Oliviero Leonardi (1921 - 2019) was an Italian painter and sculptor based in Rome. He was largely recognized in the 1970/80s as one of the leaders in painting with experimental materials on steel plates baked in ovens at high fire (at 900 degrees Celsius). He was technically using an innovative form of vitreous enamel painting as artistic medium, using his own mixtures of oxides and materials for enamel, such as volcanic ash.
He was passionate about the themes of procreation, space, life forces, and at the same time the primordial. Through his explored themes and innovative experiments, he is an important post-war link to early 20th century Futurism and the European Avant-garde in general.
In the 1970/80s, his works were studied by important art historians and critics like Carlo Giulio Argan or Elio Mercuri, and many international experts on Modern or Early Modern art, like Rene Hocke. He had more than 25 collective and solo exhibitions in major art galleries in Italy, France, Spain, Monaco, Germany and Luxembourg. He exhibited with a collective of artists including Giorgio De Chirico, Salvador Dalí and Joan Miró during the 1975 Contemporary Art Exhibition in Fiuggi, Italy. His work was also exhibited at the Maschio Angioino, the Centro di Cultura Italiana, the Saarland Museum, the Van Gogh House and the Limoges Biennale, and commissioned for public spaces including the metro in the city of Rome.
This is the first time since 1986 that the work of Oliviero Leonardi is exhibited.
Events at Rome Art Week
