Since its opening, Galleria Michela Cattai has focused on the study, research and selection of works of Modern and Contemporary Art and Design by some of the most important artists and designers of the twentieth century and brought them together under one roof.

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© 2016 Galleria Michela Cattai

paolo-scheggi

Paolo Scheggi

Artist

Paolo Scheggi was born in Settignano in 1940 and later attended l’Instituto Statale d’arte e l’Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence. During 1958 and 1960, while he was still very young, he created his first work which was exhibited in the gallery Numero in Florence in 1960 and the first frame – a prearranged plastic form, was his first solo work in 1961 in the Vigna Nuova gallery in Florence, which was a sign of the great things to come in the following years. As a young, curious artist in search of new experiences, Paolo Scheggi was involved in the ultimate movements of the Informale and the New Dada and immediately distanced himself, in the same way that he had in Florence, as this was too provincial for a curious artist, in need of new experienced. He decided to leave Florence to spend some time in London (where he met the works of Mondrian and Arp) and attended part in a course of Visual Design. From 1961 he attended the centro nevralgico dell’arte comtemporanea in Milan. He found himself within in a group of other young artists, Alviani, Bonalumi, Castellani, Manzoni with whom he established a strong relationship, both as colleagues and friends, stimulated by Pollock, Max Bill and Klein. This friendship gave life to new works in 1962: le Intersuperfici a zone riflesse. During the 3 decades of his short life (he died of a cardiac illness in 1971 in Rome), particularly in 1964, the year in which he married Franca dall’Acqua, he condensed a lifetime of work that showed great artistic maturity from the beginning to the end, consiting of painting, achitecture and literature (leading to the foundation and collaboration with Il Malinteso in 1960 and Marcatrè 1965, Nuova Corrente in 1967 and In in 1969. In 1962 in Milan, the sartorial atelier of Germana Marucelli (an important person in the italian fashion worl at the time) experimented with architecture in his project of the integration of plastic: the interchanges of spatial forms. The space itself has to submit itself to the necessity of the artist’s spirit, which connects painting, design, graphics, architecture and fashion. He developed times with architecture, with Mendini and Olivieri, joined together in the research of progettazione totale; a project with Nozzoli Unita. In 1964 he had his first personal work displayed abroad, in the Smith Gallery in Brussels. In 1966 he featured in the Museum of Modern Art in Paris, Section Constructiviste in the XXI Salon de Realitees Nouvelles, Nueva Tendencia Italiana,curated by Umbro Apollonio for el Museo de Arte Moderna in Buenos Aires, Weiss auf Weiss in the Kunsthalle in Berna, Realtà dell’immagine e strutture della visione, curated by Maurizio Calvesi in the galleria Il Cerchio in Rome. He was invited to the XXXIV Biennale di Venezia. Important critics constantly followed his work, from Celant to Trini, from Bonito Oliva to Fagiolo dell’Arco, and Argan. In 1967 hecreated Intercamera Plastica, an inter-spatial model which integrated plastic into architecture. He participated in important architectual projects and his works were exhibited at the Expo 67 di Montreal, at the Biennale di Parigi, at the Museo Sperimentale d’Arte Contemporanea and at the Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna di Torino, at the Museum of Modern Art di Copenaghen. He received the chair in Psychology of Shape at the Accademia di Belle Arti dell’Aquila. He lasts works always remain high in the performative field of research confirming that the function of painting and sculpture veered towards the level of expression that he had to do with the theatre and other forms of visual arts. The representation as ‘other art’ permitted him to do everything that he had always dedicated himself to: painting, sculpture, architecture, objects and atmosphere, management and coordination, to create an overall experience. In 1968 he occupied himself attentively to experiemental theatre in the Piccolo di Milano, curating the visual spectacle Interventi Plastico-Visuali. He presented Garone e Geremia s.p.a., with Gambone, Isgrò and Sacchi at the Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Bologna and Autospettacolo in Caorle (1969). He started to use the alphabet within his scenes, with enormous letters and words in the performances, such as in the work Oplà-Stick in 1969 and Oplà in the Flori gallery in a street of Firenze, with the presence of personalised letters. Dies Irae, work of Paolo Scheggi and Franca Sacchi, was presented in the Teatro Manzoni di Milano, al Teatro del Palazzo degli Estensi in Varese, at the Space Electronic in Firenze. Paolo Scheggi presented a funeral procession in Piazza Duomo in Como for the manifestation “Campo Urbano”. He presented the funeral as a piece of art, a celebration of death and of geometrically organised objects. In the following year (some projects with Vincenzo Agnetti Il Trono for la galleria Mana-art-market in Rome and Il Tempio. The last plastic work in 1971 was at the Naviglio Seiprofetiperseigeometrie and the Tomba della geometria would be presented at the XXXVI Biennale di Venezia in 1972. Nei decenni successivi, tra le mostre postume si annoverano quella alla Sala d’Arme di Palazzo Vecchio (Florence, 1983), at the Galleria del Naviglio (Milan, 1990), alla Galleria Niccoli (Parma, 2002) and is currently at the Gallerie Colossi (Chiari), Il Ponte e Tornabuoni (Firenze).