Domenico Calabrone (Aieta, Italy 1928 - São Paulo SP 2000)
Domenico Calabrone was a sculptor, painter, engraver, jewelry designer and set designer. Between 1948 and 1951, he attended classes at the Liceu Classic, in Rome, with a specialization in casting, mosaic and ceramic techniques. In 1954, he moved to São Paulo, where, two years later, he held his first solo show at the Art's Store gallery. In 1963, he exhibited at the 1st Exhibition of the Young National Drawing, in São Paulo. In 1965, he participated in the 1st Esso Salon of Young Artists, at the Museum of Modern Art in São Paulo (MAM/SP) and at the Museum of Contemporary Art of the University of São Paulo (MAC/USP). He presented works on the current Brazilian art panorama of MAM/SP, in 1975 and 1978.
In 1986, he received the International Award for Contemporary Sculpture, in Cassano Jonio, Italy. Still in the 1980s, he became interested in fractal art. In 1990, he was awarded the Acquisition Award at the Salão de Arte Contemporânea de Santo André, São Paulo; In 1991, he was awarded a special room at the São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon and, in 1994, he won the 41st Internazionale di Pittura Città di Pizzo Award in his native country. Modern Art of Bahia (MAM/BA), in Salvador, in 1963; at MAM/RJ, in 1965 and 1966; and at the José Pancetti Museum of Contemporary Art (MACC/Campinas), in 1992 – this is his last individual. He participated in the São Paulo International Biennial from 1963 to 1991, the São Paulo Salon of Modern Art between 1962 and 1964, and the São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon in 1987.
Critical Comment
From the 1960s onwards, Domenico Calabrone seems to seek in his sculpture, an artistic expression for which he is better known, a representation that unites organic and mechanical forms, conceiving figures half-man half-machine. To do so, it seeks a similar movement effect, albeit more timid, the one produced by the Italian futuristic sculptor Umberto Boccioni (1882-1916) in works as unique forms in the continuity of space (1913). This would be the case of the bronze sculpture, the newsboy. Art critic Mário Schenberg (1914-1990) notes the search for Calabrone for this synthesis, understanding his works from this period as "valid symbols of the machine-instrument and the robotic creature". 1970, Calabrone starts to produce sculptures called "totens", made of stone or bronze - or joining the two materials -, some referring to pre-Columbian pieces, all of which are large, sometimes monumental, and probably aimed at public spaces, such as those that are They can be found in Praça da Sé and Parque Villa-Lobos, in São Paulo.
Later, the artist is interested in the production of geometric sculptures, using a computer program to calculate the dimensions. Calabrone abandons the geometrized organic shapes of years spent to work, from then on, only with geometric figures overlapping or stacked, usually with strong colors in plexiglass, a plastic similar to that of acrylic. In the 1990s, he produced paintings with the influence of fractal art ideas.
Note
1 SCHENBERG, Mário. Calabrone. In: _____. Thinking the art. 2nd ed. São Paulo: Nova Stella, 1988.
Criticism
"Calabrone is not part of those artists who remain enclosed in a certain type of work by strictly policing their artistic work. He, creation certainly does not depend on a stereotyped form, with respective measures and guided by unshakable creeds. He proves (...) that thinking about art from artistic models would be incurred in the most gross error, since any process of creation is always built by aesthetic variants, also enhanced by the use of different techniques and materials. The natural complexity of the production of Calabrone offers him multiple paths, and pours multiple choices. Particular, inherent in sculpture, it also opens the broad horizons of the communications of this century, which promote an artistic doing based on an open creation universe."
radha Abramo
Calabrone. Calabrone: Route revisited in Carrara marble. São Paulo: André Art Gallery, 1988. p. 5.
Individual exhibitions
1956 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Art's Store Gallery
1957 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Clube dos Artistas
1959 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Etoile Gallery
1961 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Folha Art Gallery
1962 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the Selearte Gallery
1963 - Salvador BA - Individual MAM/BA
1964 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Astreia
1965 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Itália
1965 - Belo Horizonte MG - Individual, at Galeria Guignard
1965 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at MAM/RJ
1966 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at MAM/RJ
1966 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at the OCA Gallery
1966 - São Paulo SP - Individual, At Galeria Itália
1966 - Rome (Italy) - Individual, at the Doria Pamphili Gallery
1967 - Belo Horizonte MG - Individual, at the Society of Artistic Culture
1968 - New York (United States) - Individual, at Ruth White Gallery
1968 - Punta del Este (Uruguay) - Individual, at the Ramires Palace
1969 - Porto Alegre RS - Individual, at the Yázigi Gallery
1970 - São Paulo SP - Individual, At the Bonfiglioli Gallery
1970 - New York (United States) - Individual, at Marisa del Re Gallery
1971 - Tel Aviv (Israel) - Individual, at Maskit Gallery
1972 - Geneva (Switzerland) - Individual, at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire
1972 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, at the Copacabana Gallery
1974 - Belo Horizonte MG - Individual, at the Automobile Club
1974 - Milan (Italy) - Individual, Galeria Ítalo Brasiliana
1974 - Rome (Italy) - Individual, at the Doria Pamphili Gallery
1976 - Rome (Italy) - Individual, at Galeria II Pasquino
1977 - Bergamo (Italy) - Individual, at Centro Culturale San Bartolomeo
1977 - Geneva (Switzerland) - Individual, at the Gallerie du Theater
1978 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Skultura
1979 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Applied Art
1980 - Belo Horizonte MG - Individual, at J. S. Art Gallery
1980 - Belo Horizonte MG - Individual, Guignard Gallery
1981 - Belo Horizonte MG - Individual, at the Guignard Gallery
1982 - Brasília DF - Individual, at the Hotel Nacional
1983 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Applied Art
1985 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Individual, Galeria Place des Arts
1988 - São Paulo SP - Calabrone: Route revisited in Carrara marble, at the André Art Gallery
1989 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Galeria Arte Applied
1989 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at the CHAP CHAP Gallery
1990 - Santos SP - Individual, at the Art Gallery of the Municipal Theater Brás Cubas
1991 - São José dos Campos - Individual, at the Galeria ARTEUSO
1991 - São Paulo SP - Individual, at Casa Triângulo
1992 - Campinas SP - Individual, at MACC
1994 - São Paulo SP - Individual, Livraria Cultura Fractals
Exhibitions Collectives
1957 - São Paulo SP - Bienal Pavilion
1961 - Curitiba PR - Collective, at MAM/PR
1962 - Curitiba PR - Salão do Paraná, at the Public Library of Paraná
1962 - São Paulo SP - Salão Paulista de Arte Moderna - Leirner Award - Folha de S.Paulo
1963 - São Paulo SP - 7th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Bienal Foundation
1963 - São Paulo SP - 1st Exhibition of the Young National Drawing, at FAAP
1964 - Belo Horizonte MG - 1st Exhibition of the Young National Drawing, at MAP
1964 - São Paulo SP - 13th São Paulo Hall of Modern Art
1965 - Rio de January RJ - 1st Esso Salon of Young Artists, at MAM/RJ
1965 - São Paulo SP - 8th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Bienal Foundation
1965 - São Paulo SP - 1st Esso Salon for Young Artists, at MAC/USP
1967 - São Paulo SP - 9th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1971 - São Paulo SP - 11th São Paulo International Biennial, at the Bienal Foundation
1972 - São Paulo SP - 4th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1974 - Milan (Italy) - Collective, at the Museu d'Arte Moderna Fondazione Pagani
1975 - São Paulo SP - 13th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1975 - São Paulo SP - 7th Brazilian Current Art Panorama, at MAM/SP
1976 - Penápolis SP - 2nd Salon of Plastic Arts of Northwest, at the Educational Foundation of Penápolis. Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Penápolis
1978 - Budapest (Hungary) - Sculpture Biennial
1978 - Penápolis SP - 3rd Northwest Plastic Arts Hall, at the Educational Foundation of Penapolis. Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Penápolis
1978 - Piracicaba - Contemporary Art Salon
1978 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - 18th Art and Ecological Thought, at the Euclides da Cunha Library
1978 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Sculpture in Urban Space: 50 years, at Praça Nossa Senhora da Paz.
1978 - Santo André SP - Contemporary Art Salon
1978 - São Paulo SP - 1st Exhibition of Mobile and Object unusual, at Paço das Artes
1978 - São Paulo SP - 10th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1979 - Skironio (Greece) - International Sculpture Biennial
1980 - Penápolis SP - 4th Northwest Plastic Arts Hall, at the Educational Foundation of Penápolis. Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Penápolis
1981 - Guarujá SP - Outdoor Sculpture, at the Jequitimar Hotel
1981 - São Paulo SP - 13th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1981 - Washington (United States) - Collective, at the Baci Gallery
1982 - Penápolis SP - 5th Northwest Plastic Arts Hall, at the Penápolis Educational Foundation. Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Penápolis
1982 - São Paulo SP - a century of sculpture in Brazil, at MAM/SP
1984 - Curitiba PR - Simões de Assis Art Gallery: Inaugural Exhibition, at Simões de Assis Galeria of Art
1984 - São Paulo SP - Collective, at Galeria Artescultura
1984 - São Paulo SP - Tradition and Rupture: Synthesis of Brazilian Art and Culture, at the Bienal Foundation
1985 - Budapest (Hungary) - Biennial of Sculpture
1985 - Milan (Italy) - Bienal da Pequena Sculpture, at the Pagani Foundation
1985 - Penápolis SP - 6th Northwest Plastic Arts Hall, at the Educational Foundation of Penápolis. Faculty of Philosophy, Sciences and Letters of Penápolis
1985 - São Paulo SP - Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1985 - Skironio (Greece) - International Sculpture Biennial
1986 - Massa (Italy) - International Sculpture, at Castel Molaspina
1986 - São Paulo SP - The new dimension of the object, at MAC/USP
1987 - Athens (Greece) - Collective, at the Museum of Art Moderna
1987 - Brasília DF - Paulistas in Brasília, at the Museu de Arte de Brasília
1987 - Santo André SP - Contemporary Art Salon - Acquisition Award
1987 - São Paulo SP - 5th São Paulo Contemporary Art Salon, Pinacoteca do Estado
1987 - São Paulo SP - A Trama do Gosto, at the Bienal Pavilion
1987 - São Paulo SP - 20th Contemporary Art Exhibition, at Chapel Art Show
1989 - Belo Horizonte MG - National Art Salon, at the Belo Horizonte Art Museum - Sculpture Award
1989 - São Paulo SP - Open Atelier Circuit, at IAB/SP
1990 - Santo André SP - Contemporary Art Salon - Acquisition Award
1990 - São Paulo SP - Exhibition commemorating the second anniversary of Casa Triângulo
1991 - São Paulo SP - 21st São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1991 - São Paulo SP - Mata, at MAC/USP
1991 - São Paulo SP - Salão Paulista de Arte Contemporânea - Special Room
1992 - São Paulo SP - America: 500 years, at Sesc Pompéia
1993 - São Paulo SP - 5, at Casa Triângulo
1993 - São Paulo SP - Works for illustration of the Literary Supplement: 1956 - 1967, at MAM/SP
1994 - Pietrasanta (Italy) - Sculpture International Award1993
1994 - São Paulo SP - Collection 94, at Casa Triângulo
1994 - São Paulo SP - Mirrors and Shadows, at MAM/SP
1994 - São Paulo SP - Fractals - Expo l Tribute
1994 - Tokyo (Japan) - Brazilian Contemporary Art in Tokyo, at Forijita Verté Museum
1995 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Mirrors and shadows, at CCBB
1995 - São Paulo SP - Among objects, at Galeria Nara Roesler
1996 - São Paulo SP - Contemporary Brazilian Art: Recent donations, at MAM/SP
1996 - São Paulo SP - 1st OFF Bienal, at MUBE
1998 - Brasília DF - Cien Recuerdos for Garcia Lorca, at Espaço Cultural 508 Sul
1998 - São Paulo SP - The Art of Sculpture in the National Conjunto, in the National Complex
Posthumous Exhibitiones
2000 - São Paulo SP - Brazilian Sculpture: from the Pinacoteca to Jardim da Luz, at the Pinacoteca do Estado
2001 - São Paulo SP - 4 decades, at the new André Galeria
Source: Itaú Cultural
