Pippo Patruno (Monopoli, 1955 – 2023), was an Italian artist and teacher. He dedicated his career to painting, exploring various movements including abstractionism and conceptual art.
He always had a great need for research: he was not a satisfied and complacent artist but rather demanding with himself, eager to find the thread of his imaginary labyrinth through the communication and to transmute the invisible into visible.
Marilena Bonomo
Biography
After completing high school at the Art Institute in Monopoli, he earned a degree in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Bari. His artistic research began with various archaeological excavations, first at the Cathedral Basilica of Monopoli (late 1970s), then with restoration work at the National Archaeological Museum of Egnazia (1985-1987), and in other places in Apulia. Pippo recalled this formative period by saying “it led me to know up close and to explore with my hands the geometric essentiality of the drawings on Messapian vases. There, I found the definitively abstract solution for my work. Geometric figuration seemed to me the most evident and immediate sign of mental elaboration, thought, and philosophy”.
In 1975, he had his first solo exhibition. From there, he was a featured solo artist in Italy and abroad, shifting towards a more geometric and minimalist style, as seen in the work “Tradimensioni Improbabili” (1992).
He exhibited his works in major Italian galleries, including the Marilena Bonomo Gallery in Bari, where he is the protagonist of the solo exhibitions “Le stanze del giardiniere” (1999) and “Indicativo Transitivo” (2005) and publishes “Comporre l’infinito” (1997) and ‘Capoverso” (2010). In 2011 he participated in the 54th Edition of the Venice Biennale, presenting the “Edizioni Fuori Tempo” collection.
In his subsequent works, he experimented with the limits of abstraction and concept through the written word, producing “Solglass,” “I pensieri di Dio”, “Flores” and “Futuro Remoto” (2019) where he showed his intense speculative activity on the present and the possibility to represent the contemporaneity through installations and collages.
Throughout his career, he collaborated with Italian and international artists, including Sol LeWitt. Alongside his intense artistic production, he engaged in teaching, first at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan and then, for over 20 years, at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bari.
His works appear in numerous catalogs and in public and private collections.
I wish that people will recognize the path of my art. A path that I have never chosen, but that has born with me.
Pippo Patruno
