Italian painter. He did not study at any art school or academy, but worked directly in contact with art galleries and with masters such as Carlos Alfano, Filiberto Menna and Achille Bonito Oliva. In 1969 he met the important Neapolitan gallery owner Lucio Amelio, who gave him the opportunity to begin his real training. In 1978 he had his first solo exhibition at the studio of Gianni Pisani (also an Italian painter). In his youth, he was lucky enough to work with Joseph Beuys, helping him with some of his installations. In 1982 he even exhibited at the Guggenheim in New York.
Regarding his pictorial style, in the early years he focused on space and spatial engineering. He used design techniques on paper and wall. In the 1980s he achieved international success and focused his creative vision on research into the human figure. Above all, he deals with the male figure, using few synthetic strokes and a reduced chromatic palette in his paintings. In 1980, an earthquake occurred in Irpina, causing significant damage to Naples, his hometown. This event inspired the artist to add a tragic sense to his works and to explore the destructive power of nature and death itself, thus creating a dramatic atmosphere and an immersive effect that erases the distance between the spectator and the canvas. In addition, during this period he visited Rome, which led him to become closer to the Italian transavant-garde, which he applied to his sculpture in general, which revived his work and made it more exuberant. In the nineties, Longobardi worked around a radical stripping away of the physical and the human. He replaced the exuberance that had characterized his works of the previous decade with an unprecedented form of “minimalism” with austere, monochrome compositions.
The Fundació Suñol keeps in its reserve two untitled works by the artist, both dated 1982. They were exhibited in the foundation’s collective exhibition called ‘Josep Suñol Collection: 27 works, 18 authors’ (2011 – 2012).
List of artworks
Sense títol , 1982
Sense títol , 1982
Sense títol , 1982
Sense títol , 1982
Portrait: 1971-1987
Fernando Vijande
We brought together 51 artists to talk about Fernando Vijande, the gallerist who supported the work of all those who exhibited at the Galería Vandrés and the Galería...
I sei sensi (The Six Senses)
Italia
A glimpse at the Josep Suñol Collection focusing on works by Italian artists from the second avant-garde such as Fontana, Battaglia or...
5th Anniversary
Josep Suñol's Collection
A fresh insight into his collection that can help us understand the function of art in...
27 works, 18 artists
Josep Suñol Collection
27 pieces from the Josep Suñol Collection to help expand visitors’ knowledge of 20th-century...
Dialogues
First part
An idea that ran right through the 20th century: confrontation implies both affinities and discrepancies with initially similar...
1970 – 2001
Josep Suñol Collection
Conceptual art, minimal art and arte povera of extreme radicalism in its thinking, in dramatic contrast to attitudes since...
ITALIA. I sei sensi (The Six Senses)
Exhibition dedicated to the second avant-guard Italian artists present in the Suñol Soler...
27 works, 18 artists
This exhibition puts together 27 pieces from the Suñol Soler Collection with the aim of expanding knowledge of 20th century...
Les Escales
In 1976 Josep Suñol moved his residence to Les Escales, an address specially designed to house his growing collection of works of...
Italia. I sei sensi as seen by...
Visits that offer readings from different creative disciplines of contemporary Italian culture, and also analysis of specific aspects of the exhibited...
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