Alberto Biasi (Padua, 1937) is one of the most important Italian artists who through his very long career, contributed to the affirmation and fame of the international kinetic art of the Sixties onwards, particularly to the branch called “Arte Programmata” (Programmed Art, which comes from the experimental group show title, that in 1962 was commissioned by the Olivetti firm, the cutting-edge in the small computer research at the time.)
Biasi has been amongst the founders of “Gruppo Enne” in Padua (1959-65), who together with the Milanese “Gruppo T” have developed an autonomous and forerunner branch on optic-perceptive researches that will be gathered under the name of “Optical Art”. Besides the “Arte Programmata” group shows that travelled throughout Europe and the USA from 1962 until 1965, Biasi also took part in “The Responsive Eye”, the famous show at the MoMA, NY, in 1965.
The importance of his artistic research, which was immediately recognised by Piero Manzoni who invited him in his Azimut Gallery (1961), is proved by his curriculum and richness of his research over fifty years.
The Mayor Gallery, passing through the “optical-dynamic” series, will present early works from 1959 such as the “Trame” (Grids) to more recent works including the “Politipi” (Politypes). Amongst his most known series, the “Torsioni” (Torsions) will be exhibited, along with important historical examples. There are optical compositions, made by very thin and often bi-coloured plastic strips, drawn and superimposed, where infinite different patterns are created with the simple movement of the eye.
Besides the shows previously mentioned – the Azimut Gallery in Milan, the showrooms of Olivetti and the MoMA – Biasi’s participation is noted elsewhere, such as the four exhibitions of the Nova Tendencija (1961, 1963, 1965 and 1969), at the Venice Biennale (in 1964, 1986 and 2011), at the Sao Paulo Biennial of 1971 and lastly, his anthological solo exhibition at the Hermitage Museum in Moscow, in 2006.