Artists

Gianfranco Baruchello was born in Livorno in 1924. After graduating in Law, he founded the Biomedical Society, a chemical-biological research and production company. 1959 is the year that marks the beginning of his career, when he abandons his old job to pursue his great passion, art.

He formed a strong friendship with the French artist Duchamp, master of Dadaism (artistic movement born in Switzerland in 1916, characterized by opposite positivism, scientific thought and dissent towards literary and artistic traditions). Baruchello is deeply inspired by his friend's creative philosophy, developing an idea according to which everything can be transformed into art, "even cut shorts" as he himself says.

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The symbols and writings he uses refer us to the New Dada (artistic current influenced by Dadaism, where collage is practiced and where materials of various kinds are assembled such as wood, newspaper clippings and iron). The surfaces on which he paints, be they paper, canvas or aluminum, are white and dotted with tiny and meticulous figures, made with colored enamels. These elements tell real stories in which we can identify a remarkable search for the meaning of the conceptual, the synthesis of abstraction and the power of communication. The titles of the works appear incomprehensible, deliberately ambiguous, distant from the content represented.

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In the 70s he also works using boxes to highlight the three-dimensionality of objects.

His works are exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including: The New Realists (Sidney Janis Gallery – New York, 1962); Baruchello (La Tartaruga Gallery - Rome, 1963); Gianfranco Baruchello (Cordier & Ekstrom Gallery – New York, 1964); The Venice Biennale (Venice, 1976, 1980, 1988, 1990, 1993, 2013); Documenta (Kassel, 1977, 2012); Gianfranco Baruchello (Hasenclever Gallery – Munich, 2005); The Collection: selected works (MACRO – Rome, 2006); Certain ideas (National Gallery of Modern Art - Rome, 2011); Gianfranco Baruchello (Villa Arson – Nice, 2018); Gianfranco Baruchello (Mart - Rovereto, 2018); Possible Psychoencyclopedia (Centre d'Art Contemporain Genève – Genève, 2021).