Michelangelo Pistoletto (born Biella, Italia, June 23th,1933) is an Italian painter, action and object artist, and art theorist. Pistoletto is acknowledged as one of the main representatives of the Italian Arte Povera. His work mainly deals with the subject matter of reflection and the unification of art and everyday life in terms of a Gesamtkunstwerk.
Pistoletto studied art while apprenticing at his father’s restoration workshop, and in 1960, mounted his first solo show of figurative paintings and portraits at the Galleria Galatea in Turin. He rose to international prominence with his sculpture series Minus Objects (1966), which includes a set of columns and a two-dimensional table and chairs. The work, along with a series of mirror paintings, was awarded first prize in the São Paulo Biennale. Growing increasingly reclusive over time, Pistoletto withdrew his work from the Venice Biennale in 1968 due to the student riots. He has had solo exhibitions in institutions around the world, notably including the Tate Modern in London and the Guggenheim Museum in New York. He lives in Turin, Italy.
Pistoletto studied art while apprenticing at his father’s restoration workshop, and in 1960, mounted his first solo show of figurative paintings and portraits at the Galleria Galatea in Turin. He rose to international prominence with his sculpture series Minus Objects (1966), which includes a set of columns and a two-dimensional table and chairs. The work, along with a series of mirror paintings, was awarded first prize in the São Paulo Biennale. Growing increasingly reclusive over time, Pistoletto withdrew his work from the Venice Biennale in 1968 due to the student riots. He has had solo exhibitions in institutions around the world, notably including the Tate Modern in London and the Guggenheim Museum in New York. He lives in Turin, Italy.
