Born in 1937 in Padua, where he still resides, Alberto Biasi is one of the protagonists of Italian art in the postwar period, as well as one of the founders of the historic Gruppo N.
Only at the end of World War II Biasi enrolled in the Department of Architecture at the University of Venice as well as in a top-level industrial design course. From 1969 to 1988, Biasi served as professor of advertising graphic arts at the Professional Institute in Padua.
In 1959, he participated in various artistic youth events and, with his architectural student peers, he formed the Gruppo Enne-A. In 1960, he exhibited together with Enrico Castellani, Piero Manzoni, Agostino Bonalumi and other European artists at the Galleria Azimut in Milan. Also in 1960, during a period characterized by the spirit of innovation and experimentation, in close collaboration with Manfredo Massironi, he formed Gruppo N. The following year, he joined the movement Nuove tendenze (New Trends).
Between 1959 and 1960, Biasi created Trame, rectangular and permeable objects, where the modularity has optical-kinetic implications in the relationship between light and the shifting of a person’s gaze. Soon after realisation of the Trame series came another important work: Rilievi ottico-dinamici, overlapping lamellar structures in contrasting colors that spark special visual effects. Later in the 1960s, he produced the Torsioni series – featuring the use of mostly bicolor lamelle to generate optical dynamism through different observer viewpoints – and his Ambienti pieces. He also realised Light prisms, which he designed in 1962 and transferred to environmental dimensions in 1969.
In the 1970s, he began elaborating Politipi, a cycle to which he devoted himself until the 1990s (when small color inserts appear): characterised by the layering and interweaving of fine strips, it thus alludes to the third dimension. In the late 1990s, Biasi did Assemblaggi, combinations of different, possibly monochrome surfaces – also in diptych and triptych arrangements – where the tridimensional effect takes on greater force. In the last decade, this latter feature has emerged in the form of several vertical sculptures made from steel.
During his sixty-year career, Alberto Biasi participated in many international exhibitions including the XXXII e XLII Biennale of Venice, the X, XI and XIV Quadriennale of Rome, and the XI Biennale of São Paulo. He has held numerous solo exhibitions such as the ones at the Museo Civico agli Eremitani in Padua, the Museu Diocesà in Barcelona, Palazzo Ducale in Urbino, the MACBA in Buenos Aires, the MAC in Santiago, Chile, Palazzo Reale in Genova and Palazzo Pretorio in Cittadella (Padua).
His works are part of prestigious public collections and museums in Italy and abroad, including the MoMA in New York, the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome and the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.
