BIOGRAPHY

Paolo Icaro

Was born in Turin on September 30, 1936. He lives and works in Tavullia.

He studied piano and attended the Massimo d'Azeglio high school where he began learning about art history from Riccardo Chicco and Francesco Arcangeli. He enrolled in the School of Liberal Arts at the University of Turin. In 1958, he began training in the atelier of Umberto Mastroianni, where he grew passionate about the language of sculpture. In fact, Mastroianni would give the young artist a second name: Icaro. In 1960, he moved to Rome, and two years later he held his first solo exhibition at the Galleria Schneider. In 1965, he was invited to the IX Quadriennale in Rome.

In 1966, he went to New York, while in 1967, he had a one-man show at the Galleria La Tartaruga in Rome and took part in "Arte Povera Im-Spazio" at the Galleria La Bertesca in Genoa, the city he would move to upon returning to Italy in 1968, the year he held his solo exhibition "Faredisfarerifarevedere 0106768" at the Bertesca.

During 1968-69 he participated in the most important international avant-garde exhibitions. He held interventions at "Teatro delle mostre," Galleria La Tartaruga, Rome, and at "Arte povera piu azioni povere" in Amalfi. He was among the artists invited to two historic shows: "Op Losse Schroeven. Situaties en cryptostructuren," at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and "When Attitudes Become Form," at the Kunsthalle in Berne.

In 1971, he moved to Connecticut where he would reside for a decade. During the early 1980s he permanently returned to Italy and had a solo exhibition at PAC — Padiglione d'Arte Contemporanea in Milan. A one-man event of his at the Palazzina dei Giardini in Modena dates to 1987.

In the meantime, he was honored with numerous solo exhibitions at important galleries across Europe and America: Verna in Zurich in 1972, 1974, 1978, 1985; Francoise Lambert in Milan in 1976; Marilena Bonomo in Bari in 1976; Massimo Minini in Brescia in 1977, 1982, 1989; Paul Maenz in Cologne in 1978; Hal Bromm in New York in 1978, 1979; Jack Tilton in New York in 1985, 1986, 1989.

In 1995, he held a survey show of his work at the Galleria Civica d'Arte Contemporanea of Trento.

He was present in 2006 at "Museo Museo Museo. 1998-2006 Duecentocinquanta nuove opere per la GAM," at Torino Esposizioni, which displayed the group of works acquired by the Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea of Turin in 2005. In October 2007, he was asked to create a work on permanent display for the Italian Department at UCLA — University of California in Los Angeles.

Some of the solo shows held at the time in private venues include: "Paolo Icaro. 1967-1997," Galleria P420, Bologna; "Living in America: sculptural events in Woodbridge," Galleria Studio G7, Bologna; "Respiro, all'interno dell'esterno dell'interno..." at the Fondazione Volume! in Rome, and finally the exhibition "Paolo Icaro, Alla ricerca dell'equilibrio perduto" at the Galleria Massimo Minini in Brescia in December 2018.

Over the last years he has been engaged in many solo exhibitions in public venues and museums, such as "Biografia ideale" at the Centro Arti Visive Pescheria, Pesaro in 2009, and "You, Space" at Camec in La Spezia in 2011. In 2012, he exhibited at the Fondazione Albizzini in Citta di Castello in a show titled "Paolo Icaro." His exhibitions in 2017 were held: in the cloister of the University Statale in Milan, titled "Un prato in quattro tempi;" the show C'era una volta..." in Citta di Castello at the Pinacoteca Comunale; and "Le Pietre del Cielo: Paolo Icaro e Luigi Ghirri" at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice. He was present once again at the Pinacoteca Comunale of Citta di Castello with "Paolo Icaro, Unending Incipit." In 2019, GAM Torino hosted a survey exhibition that narrates 55 years of his work: PAOLO ICARO Antologia/Anthology 1964-2019.

His work is present in some of the largest public collections, among which: Museum voor Hadengaasgse Kunst, Gent, Belgium; Alvar Aalto Museo, Jyväskylä, Finland; Centre Pompidou, Parigi, France;  European Central Bank, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; GAM, Torino, Italy; GNAM, Roma, Italy; Museo del Novecento, Milano, Italy; Collezione dei Musei Civici, Milano, Italy; MAMBO, Bologna, Italy; MAXXI, Roma, Italy; Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Villa Croce, Genova, Italy; MUSMA, Matera, Italy; Accademia Nazionale di San Luca, Roma, Italy; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, USA; UCLA, Los Angeles, USA.