ADAMI Valerio

Valerio Adami was born in 1935 in Bologna. He trains at the Atelier of Felice Carena and meets Oskar Kokoschka in Venice. He then settles in Milan where he takes drawing classes (1954) at the Fine Arts Academy in Brera (Achille Funi’s workshop). His first canvases are tinged by expressionnism and loaded by his memories of Italy in ruins in 1945. For the Salon de Mai in Paris in 1952, he meets with Matta and Wifredo Lam, who will become his closer friends.
Valerio Adami’s paintings are very graphic and offer shapes, image parts, figures but the formal dislocation, and the unpredictable combinations are mainly due to both cubisme et and Matta’s work and are meant to disturb our look. During the sixties, he becomes the main leader of the New figuration, taking part in « Figuration narrative dans l’art contemporain » (1965), « Bande dessinée et figuration narrative » (1967) and is the subject of a large retrospective in 1970 (ARC).

In 1966, Valerio Adami definitely sets his formal system : a dark thick line surrounds objects and characters treated as flat tints of pure color and without shadows. His paintings precede studies of drawings extremely precise (surrealist influence). This style will make him famous. Fom the late eighties, the artist creates mural paintings for many public buildings. His first individual is organized in 1957 in Milan. It will be the first of a long list with Adami being present in the most biggest international exhibitions. His graphic work is supported by the Maeght Gallery (Paris).