BIOGRAPHY

Pier Giulio Bonifacio was born in Genoa in 1930. He studied architecture at the Polytechnic Universities of of Milan and Turin. He also attended courses in set design in Turin, going on to work in this field at Cinecittà in Rome. In 1953 he put on his first exhibitions in Turin and Milan.

He was awarded his first prizes for drawing by the Turin Society for the Promotion of the Fine Arts and the Galleria del Naviglio in Milan.

He frequented artists belonging to the MAC (Concrete Art Movement) and was also active in Albisola, where he met Fontana, Jorn, Luzzati and others.

In the 1960s he undertook an analytical study of historic Abstraction and American and British Minimalism, and from then on these interests, combined with his studies of architecture, were to form the basic reference points of his work, that is, specifically structural meaning as design in painting.

Since the 1980s he has continued to work in painting and graphics, ever more frequently abroad, especially in the German-speaking world, where he has produced murals and been responsible for various design projects. Particularly since 2005, his work has reflected a keener interest in pursuing new stands of research, such as his in-depth study of the sign. By taking different approaches but remaining within the same fields of research, he has come to a different interpretation of graphic language as expression that is livelier and less rigorously design-based.

Solo Exhibitions

1975 – Galleria Art Room, Genova

1977 – River Oaks Club, Houston (USA)

1978 – Galleria Arte Centro, Milano

1979 – Galleria San Marco dei Giustiniani, Genova

1982 – Galleria Il Brandale, Savona

1983 – Galleria San Carlo, Napoli

1984 – Citibank, Milano

1984 – Circolo Italsider, Genova

1984 – Balestrini Arte Contemporanea, Albissola Marina

1986 – Balestrini Arte Contemporanea, Albissola Marina

1986 – Galleria Arte Centro, Milano

1986 – Galleria Cristina Busi, Chiavari

1988 – Stand Mostra Associazione Ligure Gallerie Arte Contemporanea,Loggia della Mercanzia, Genova

1988 – “Severità dell’immagine”, Balestrini Arte Contemporanea, Albissola Marina

1989 – “Severità dell’immagine”, Studio Gennai, Pisa

1991 – “Canone perpetuo per valori di grigio”, Galleria La Diade, Bergamo

1992 – “Gioco sul vuoto” (P.G. Bonifacio e D. Sayler), Galleria Arte Centro, Milano

1995 – “Nothing to declare“, Galerie Blau, Seeheim-Jugenheim (D)

1995 – Muzeul de Arta, Timisoara (R)

1999 – “Nothing to declare n. 2”, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Monaco (D)

1999 – “Nothing to declare n. 3”, Europaische Akademie, Schloss Offenberg (D)

2001 – “Il faut pulvériser le temps”, Kunstverein Nurnberg (D)

2003 – “Matteo” (Il faut pulvériser le temps n. 2), Spaziodellavolta, Genova

2008 – “Giochi d’artificio” (P.G. Bonifacio + Archifax), Spaziodellavolta, Genova

2008 – “Mythos und Metapher II” (P.G. Bonifacio + Archifax), Obersten Baubehörde, München (D)

2012 – mostra per”Una donazione al museo”, Museo d’arte contemporanea di Villa Croce, Genova

2012 – “Nothing to declare n°4”, Palazzina delle arti, La Spezia

Collective Exhibitions

1952 – Galleria Gazzetta del Popolo, Torino (1° premio, Collez. F. Castrati, Torino)

1953 – Galleria del Naviglio, Milano (premio acquisto Collez. L. Vitali, Milano)

1953 – Galleria Rotta, Genova

1974 – Galleria Art Room, Genova

1978 – Galleria San Marco dei Giustiniani, Genova

1979 – Galleriaforma, Genova

1979 – Galleria San Marco dei Giustiniani, Genova

1985 – “Preistoria trasparente”, Biblioteca Civica, Varazze

1985 – Galleria Cristina Busi, Chiavari

1985 – Galleria Ellequadro, Genova

1986 – “La parete incantata”, Galleria Arte Centro, Milano

1986 – Galleria Homo Sapiens, Savona

1986 – Pier Giulio Bonifacio e Peter Willen, Galerie Toni Brechbul, Grenchen (CH)

1987 – Galleria Rotta, Genova

1988 – “Arte a Palazzo”, Palazzo Rocca, Chiavari

1988 – Galleria La Polena, Genova

1990 – Biennale Européenne de l’Estampe contemporaine, Diekirch (L)

1991 – “Strade / Wegen”, Kunsthaus, Nurnberg

1991 – “Strade / Wegen”, Kunstlerhaus, Dortmund

1991 – “Aestas IV”, Carré Estampes, Luxembourg (L)

1991 – “Una raccolta della Collezione Balestrini”, Balestrini Arte Contemporanea, Albissola Marina

1991 – “Traces 1/1991”, Carré Estampes, Luxembourg (L)

1991 – Koln Art Fair (Galleria Valente Artecontenporanea), Koln (D)

1992 – “Gioco sul vuoto” (P.G. Bonifacio e D. Sayler), Galleria Arte Centro, Milano

1992 – “L’Esprit Géométrique Gravé”, Carré Estampes, Luxembourg (L)

1992 – Art Fair Basel ’92 (Valente Artecontemporanea), Basel (CH)

1992 – “Dipinti e collages”, Galleria Ellequadro, Genova

1992 – FIAC Paris (Valente Artecontemporanea), Paris (F)

1992 – Arte Fiera (Valente Artecontemporanea), Bologna

1992 – “Aestas V”, Carré Estampes, Luxembourg (L)

1992 – “Kunstler gestalten Fahnen”, Eichenau (D)

1993 – “Aestas VI”, Carré Estampes, Luxembourg (L)

1993 – FIAC Paris (Valente Artecontemporanea), Paris (F)

1995 – Galleria Orti Sauli, Genova (P.G. Bonifacio, H.W. Graf, D. Sayler)

1995 – “Quadrum ”, Carré Estampes, Luxembourg (L)

1997 – “Per discordi sentieri” (P.G. Bonifacio e G.F. Zappettini), Palazzo Rocca, Chiavari (GE)

1999 – “Slittamenti minimali del colore” (P.G. Bonifacio e S. Roni), Galleria Spaziodellavolta, Genova

2004 – “Luce vero sole dell’arte”, Museo Bargellini, Pieve di Cento

2004 – “Tota Pulchra”, mostra itinerante, Matera, Potenza, Milano

2005 – “Omaggio a James Joyce”, Storico Caffé San Marco, Trieste; Librairie Shakespeare & Co., Paris; Libreria Bocca, Milano

2006 – “De hominis dignitate”, omaggio a Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, Castello di Mirandola (MO)

2012 – “In astratto”, arte astratta in Italia 1930-1980, CAMeC, La Spezia