Paolo Bellini – Synaesthetic sculpture

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The exhibition, which is part of a series of thematic insights by contemporary artists linked by birth or by their work to the Canton of Ticino, offers a focus on Paolo Bellini (Mendrisio, 1941), with particular reference to his atelier in Chiasso and subsequently at Tremona. The Spazio Officina will present, within the ambit of five decades of creative activity and plastic research, a new and more recent cycle of great sculptures born in the sign of synesthetic relationships that see an interaction between graphic-sculptural elements, poetry and the image. Paolo Bellini’s creative process appears the result of a long and assiduous experience, marked by a desire for plastic research animated by the comparison between design and sensibility, in which each fragment finds its perfect place in defining the visual story.  Thanks to the apprenticeship he spend in the artistic foundries of his village, begun in 1958, Bellini learnt about the various techniques of metal casting and had the opportunity to bring together artists such as Jean Arp, Remo Rossi, Emilio Stanzani, Olivier Strebelle, Lynn Chadwick, Mario Neri and Marino Marini. After completing his studies at the Accademia di Brera in Milan, he moved to Belgium for some time as assistant to the sculptor Strebelle. Following this experience Bellini undertook a series of study trips across Europe. Returning to Ticino, he decided to open his own atelier in Chiasso. On various occasions, at Much Hadham in England in 1976 and 1981, he had the opportunity to meet, the sculptor Henry Moore, who in those years became a steady reference point for his own artistic research.  During his career – which began in the late sixties – Paolo Bellini has experimented with different materials: bronze, recycled laminates, aluminium and iron, which since 1987 has been his favoured subject of study and work.