Gianfranco Pardi (1933 – 2012 Milan, Italy) was a leading figure of Italian constructivism, known for a practice that seamlessly integrated drawing, painting, and sculpture within a rigorously organized spatial framework. From the outset, his work was driven by the exploration of space, employing a constructivist logic to create compositions of formal precision and architectural scope.
Pardi held his first solo exhibition at Galleria Alberti, Brescia in 1959, followed by Galleria Colonna, Milan in 1960. In 1965 he participated in the group show La figuration narrative dans l’art contemporain in Paris. From 1967, he collaborated with Studio Marconi, Milan, developing works that reinterpreted historical avant-garde movements such as Abstractionism, Suprematism, Constructivism, and Neoplasticism.
His Architectures series of the 1970s exemplifies his pursuit of building space through painting, using geometric and gestural signs alongside a restrained chromatic palette to express constructivist concepts. Over the following decades, Pardi’s work was presented in numerous prestigious exhibitions, including the Biennale at Palazzo della Permanente, Milan (1974, 1993), Linee della ricerca artistica in Italia 1960/1980 at Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome (1981), and Il luogo della forma at Museo di Castelvecchio, Verona (1981). Major retrospectives and solo exhibitions included the University of Parma (1984), the Venice Biennale, Milan Triennale, and Rome Quadrennial (1986), as well as Palazzo Reale, Milan (1998), and venues in Germany including Frankfurter Kunstverein, Bochum Museum, and Kulturhistorisches Museum, Stralsund (1999). His solo exhibitions continued into the 2000s with shows such as Homeless (Galleria Giò Marconi, Milan, 2000), Sheets (Galleria Fumagalli, Bergamo, 2002), and Dance and Restoration (Galleria Giò Marconi, 2003).
In addition to painting, Pardi created numerous sculptures for public and private spaces across Italy. In 2008 he was admitted to the National Academy of San Luca.
Following his death in 2012, the Gianfranco Pardi Archive was established in 2013 to preserve and promote his legacy. Recent posthumous exhibitions of his work include Fondazione Marconi, Milan (2014), Galerie Balice Hertling, Paris (2015), and the Cortesi Gallery spaces in Lugano (2016) and London (2017).
For information on available works by the artist, please contact the gallery.