Sicilian post-war and contemporary artist Vittorio Messina (b.1946), graduated from the Valle Giulia Faculty of Architecture in Rome, and his career incorporates a life-long interest in forms and materials linked with architecture. He is known for his striking installations, sculptures, and videos, and his work is often rooted in a space where the physical and the philosophical meet in cell-like constructions that are primarily formed from everyday objects that embody elusive and subtle uneasiness. His early training in architecture is seen in projects that reflect on the conditions, emotional as well as concrete, of urban life. This well-illustrated overview of his career is presented in three essays by noted art historians.
AUTHOR: Bruno Cora is one of Italy’s most renowned critics of contemporary art. He has written extensively on the Arte Povera period and its artists, in particular Alberto Burri, and has curated exhibitions on Burri, Louise Nevelson, Lucio Fontana, Michelangelo Pistoletto and Fausto Melotti, among others. He has been involved in the running of numerous notable art institutions, including the Palazzo Fabroni in Pistoia, the Pecci Museum in Prato, and the CAMEC (Centro d'arte moderna e contemporanea) in La Spezia. He has written extensively (monographs on artists and texts for innumerable exhibitions) and has taught at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Perugia, and the Universita di Studi di Cassino. He is currently the president of the Fondazione Burri. 113 colour, 62 b/w illustrations