Enrico Castellani (1930 Castelmassa, Italy – 2017 Celleno, Italy) was a pivotal figure in post-war Italian art, renowned for his radical redefinition of painting, sculpture, and architecture as interconnected forms. After studying art and architecture at Belgium’s Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts and École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture et des Arts Décoratifs de la Cambre in the early 1950s, he moved to Milan in 1956, where he began developing works that challenged traditional notions of canvas and surface.
In 1959 Castellani created his first relief painting, Superficie, a series characterized by rhythmic protrusions and recessions on monochrome surfaces, often stretched over nails. These works transformed the flat canvas into a dynamic field of light, shadow, and space, positioning Castellani at the forefront of European avant-garde abstraction. Together with Piero Manzoni, he became an active member of the Zero group, founding the magazine and gallery Azimuth, where he held his first solo exhibition in 1960.
Through his practice and writings, Castellani proposed a new approach to painting that expanded the canvas into spatial, temporal, and perceptual dimensions. Over the following decades, he continued to refine his research, experimenting with a variety of materials while maintaining a focus on minimal forms, monochrome surfaces, and the interplay of light and shadow. In 1973 he moved to Celleno, Viterbo, where he lived and worked until his death.
Castellani’s works are held in major international collections, including the Centre Pompidou, Paris; Fondazione Prada, Milan; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; MACRO, Rome; Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C. He represented Italy at the Venice Biennale in 1964, 1966, and 1984. One of his last major recognitions during his lifetime was the exhibition “ZERO: Countdown to Tomorrow, 1950s–60s” at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2014–2015).
For information on available works by the artist, please contact the gallery.