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AUGUSTO BETTI ARTIST+DESIGNER
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16/04/2023 - 14/05/2023: Humanistic/artistic cultural events Exhibitions
AUGUSTO BETTI (1919-2013) BECAME AN ORPHAN AT THE AGE OF NINE. THE ELDEST OF HIS SIBLINGS, HE WORKED IN THE FOCACCIA AND MELANDRI CERAMIC WORKSHOP. HE COULD NOT PURSUE THE ART STUDIES HE LOVED BUT MANAGED TO ATTEND EVENING CLASSES AT THE LOCAL MUNICIPAL SCHOOL OF DRAWING. IN 1935 HE ENROLLED IN THE MECHANICAL CONSTRUCTION COURSE AT THE AERONAUTICAL INSTITUTE IN FORLÌ.
DURING WORLD WAR II, HE WAS A MECHANICAL ENGINEER WITH PRIMO STORMO DA CACCIA IN UDINE, WITH MISSIONS IN NORTH AFRICA, GREECE, ALGERIA. AT THE END OF THE WAR, HE BEGAN TO PAINT: HIS FIRST PAINTING WAS IL RITRATTO DI JOLE (1945), THE PORTRAIT OF HIS YOUNG WIFE.
IN 1946 HE HELD HIS FIRST SOLO PAINTING EXHIBITION AT THE GAMBERINI GALLERY IN FORLÌ. IN 1947 HE WAS ADMITTED TO THE ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS IN BOLOGNA, WHERE HIS TEACHERS WERE GIORGIO MORANDI AND GIOVANNI ROMAGNOLI. HERE HE DEEPENED HIS FRESCO TECHNIQUE. AT THE SAME TIME, HE WORKED IN DECIO PODIO’S PAINTING RESTORATION WORKSHOP, WHERE HE ACQUIRED A REMARKABLE SENSITIVITY AND MASTERY OF COLOR.
HE PARTICIPATED IN A SERIES OF FIGURATIVE PAINTING EXHIBITIONS. DESPITE HIS SUCCESS, ALSO COMMERCIAL, IN 1955 HE OPENED A LAUNDRY-BUSINESS WITH HIS WIFE TO BE FREE TO DEVOTE HIMSELF TO EXPERIMENTATION IN THE ARTISTIC FIELD. HE NAMED HIS FIRST ABSTRACT ARTWORKS “CASSETTE (BOXES)”, BECAUSE THEY WERE MADE FROM SQUARE WOODEN BOXES, ABOUT A METER WIDE AND A DOZEN CENTIMETERS DEEP, CLOSED BY TRANSPARENT MATERIAL, IN WHICH HE INSERTED ELEMENTS THAT CREATED CHANGING PLAYS OF LIGHT AND MOVEMENT DEPENDING ON THE POINT OF VIEW. HE ALSO BEGAN TO EXPERIMENT WITH THE COUNTLESS POSSIBILITIES OF NEW SYNTHETIC MATERIALS. IN THE SAME YEARS HE CREATED THE “SEMISFERE (HALF-SPHERES)”, MADE USING THE BOTTOM OF DEMIJOHNS AS A MOLD, WHICH WERE HUNG AND PROJECTED COLORED MOVING IMAGES ON THE WALLS.
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Where: Galleria Carla Sozzani - Corso Como 10, 20154 Milano |
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