Turi Simeti (1929 Alcamo, Italy – 2021 Milan, Italy) was an Italian painter and prominent member of the ZERO avant-garde movement.
After studying law in Palermo, Simeti moved to Rome in 1958, where he came into contact with the contemporary art scene and met influential figures such as Alberto Burri, who shaped his early artistic development. During this period, he also spent time in London, Paris, and Basel, engaging with the European avant-garde.
Simeti’s artistic career gained momentum in the mid-1960s. His first significant exhibition was held at Lucio Fontana’s studio in Milan in 1965, followed by participation in Zero Avantgarde, a landmark group exhibition that brought together Italian and international artists from the ZERO movement, including Hans Haacke, Yayoi Kusama, Agostino Bonalumi, Enrico Castellani, Dadamaino, Yves Klein, and Piero Manzoni. The show toured to Galleria Il Punto in Turin and Galleria Il Cavallino in Venice, and Simeti also exhibited in Austria at Galerie Wulfengasse in Klagenfurt with Bonalumi. In 1966, he held his first solo exhibition at Galleria Vismara in Milan, where he established his long-term studio.
In 1967–1969, Simeti was invited to New York as “Artist in Residence” at Fairleigh Dickinson University, where he worked extensively while maintaining connections with galleries and exhibitions across Europe. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he held numerous solo exhibitions in cities such as Bergamo, Genoa, Verona, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Munich, Milan, Friburg, Kaiserslautern, and São Paulo, consolidating his international reputation.
From the 1990s onward, Simeti’s work continued to be shown in Italy and abroad, including at Kunstverein Ludwigsburg (1996) and Galerie Kain in Basel (1998). In 2014, he was named Artist of the Year, receiving the Premio delle Arti Premio della Cultura at the Circolo della Stampa in Milan.
Simeti’s work is characterized by the exploration of light, shadow, and form through monochromatic, oval-shaped canvases, creating subtle spatial effects that play with perception and materiality. His practice reflects a rigorous investigation into the relationship between surface, volume, and the viewer’s gaze, aligned with the ZERO ethos of optical experimentation and conceptual purity.
His works are included in major public collections worldwide, including Collezione Ramo (Milan), Fondazione Prada (Milan), GAM – Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (Turin), GNAM – Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna (Rome), MUSEION (Bolzano), Museo del Novecento (Milan), MA*GA – Museo Arte Gallarate, MAM – Museu de Arte Moderna (Rio de Janeiro), Museum Voorlinden (Wassenaar), Städtische Kunstmuseum (Gelsenkirchen), and Fundación Pablo Atchugarry (Uruguay), among others.
For information on available works by the artist, please contact the gallery.