TURI SIMETI

born 1929, Alcamo, Italy

Turi Simeti is one of the prominent artists of the European art scene. Over the second half of the 20th century, his artwork progressively evolved through abstract art towards his work with pure minimalism. He worked alongside other artists of his generation such as Alberto Burri, Enrico Castellani, Lucio Fontana, Piero Manzoni and Agostino Bonalumi.

He is perceived as an “engineer” of light, colour and geometry. In 1958 T. Simeti moved to Rome, where he had the opportunity to fully absorb new tendencies and a very rational approach to art, which resonated mostly in the circle of the Düsseldorf group Zero in the late 1950s, and other European avant-gardes / Gruppo N in Italy, Null in the Netherlands/.

In 1962 Turi Simeti began to work with an oval motif which in various shapes became the key to his own concept of minimalist monochromatic artwork. A fine modulation of his pieces is achieved by placing an oval relief under a single-coloured canvas.  In such a visual space, light can subtly oscillate between silent contemplation and a dynamic, visually almost haptic expressive position. Thus, one work can evoke totally different visual perceptions of intensity as the light condition change during the day.

Since 1965, after an exhibition in the atelier of Lucio Fontana in Milan called “ZERO Avantgarde”, T. Simeti has been perceived by the critics as a progressive and innovative artist. Since then, his artwork has been presented on numerous solo and group exhibitions and belongs to many institutional and private collections. Among the most interesting are the exhibitions at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York or the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.

Turi Simeti lives and works in Milan.