Paolo Buggiani (born 9 May 1933) is an Italian contemporary artist. His work is characterized by using dynamic media superimposed on an existing cityscape, rather than using static media, like figures that are skating, sailing, or running while on fire, spray paint on snow, wearable art or painted plexiglass held before an in situ background. His urban performances are aimed at creating an immediate and unexpected interaction with the public on the street.

Early life

Paolo Buggiani was born in the small city of

Castelfiorentino Castelfiorentino is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, central-northern Italy, located between Florence (distance 30 km), Pisa (45 km) and Siena (55 km). The population numbers approxi ...

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. In the early fifties he moved to Rome, where he studied Contemporary Art.

Early career

In 1956, he participated in a national competition ''Incontri della Gioventù'' where he won first place together with the Italian painter Giuseppe Romagnoni. Shortly after, he exhibited at the Rome Quadriennale (1955-1956), participated in an exposition at the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

in 1957 and was invited to the first ''Salon des Cent'' organized by the

along with thirty-one other artists of the Roman Avantgarde including

Giulio Turcato Giulio Turcato (16 March 1912, Mantua – 22 January 1995, Rome) was an Italian artist, belonging to both figurative and abstract expressionist currents. Biography Giulio Turcato was born in Mantua. He attended the Accademia di Belle Arti di Vene ...

and Giuseppe Uncini. In June 1957 he had his first solo exposition at the Schneider gallery in Rome curated by Corrado Cagli. He arrived in Paris in 1958, and during his stay, Buggiani met

Wifredo Lam Wifredo Óscar de la Concepción Lam y Castilla (; December 8, 1902 – September 11, 1982), better known as Wifredo Lam, was a Cuban artist who sought to portray and revive the enduring Afro-Cubans, Afro-Cuban spirit and culture. Inspired by ...

who introduced him to the gallery Glasier-Cordiè where he had a solo exhibition.

Career

In 1962 he moved to

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and in 1968 he received the Guggenheim Fellowship for Sculpture in America with his experiments called the ''Vacuum Forming System''. Returning to Italy in May 1968, he was active in both Rome and Milan. Buggiani's range of work at the time included: ''Ephemeral Sculpture in Motion'' (performance art and installations), ''Paintings over Reality'' (landscapes photographed through painted crystal) and ''Wearable Art'' (handpainted jumpsuits).
In 1977 he created the artwork for the jazz album ''Threads'' by

Steve Lacy Steve Thomas Lacy-Moya (born May 23, 1998) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and record producer. He gained recognition as the guitarist of the alternative R&B band the Internet, which he joined in 2015. His self-produced debut EP, '' ...

Frederic Rzewski Frederic Anthony Rzewski ( ; April 13, 1938 – June 26, 2021) was an American composer and pianist, considered to be one of the most important American composer-pianists of his time. From 1977 up to his eventual death, he lived mainly in Be ...

and

Alvin Curran Alvin Curran (born December 13, 1938) is an American composer, performer, improviser, sound artist, and writer. He was born in Providence, Rhode Island, and lives and works in Rome, Italy. He is the co-founder, with Frederic Rzewski and Richard ...

on Italian

Horo Records Horo Records was an Italian jazz record label, operated by Aldo Sinesio. Discography HDP series * HDP 1-2 Irio De Paula orchestra Casinha Branca * HDP 3-4 Sam Rivers trio Black Africa 1 * HDP 5-6 Sam Rivers trio Black Africa 2 * HDP 7-8 Ran Blake ...

.
When he returned to New York in 1979, he started his research on his series named ''Mechanical Reptiles and Urban Mythology''. These burning sculptures in sheet metal placed into the urban environment, like

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

or the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a cable-stayed suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River. It w ...

, brought him popularity as one of the members of the Street Art Movement of that time together with other New York street artists like, Ken Hiratsuka, Linus Coraggio (all members of a group called the

Rivington School Rivington School was an art group that emerged from the East Village art scene in the 1980s in New York City. Many of the artists of the Rivington School were involved in welding and forging sculptures, performance art or street art. The group, t ...

Richard Hambleton Richard Art Hambleton (June 23, 1952 – October 29, 2017) was a Canadian artist known for his work as a street artist. He was a surviving member of a group that emerged from the New York City art scene during the booming art market of the 1980s ...

, and a young

Keith Haring Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the Graffiti in New York City, New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual l ...

. During his time in New York in 1981-1982, he preserved several early chalk subway drawings from

before he rose to fame, an operation documented in several books and expositions.
In 2017-2018 he had a retrospective exhibition in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in

, curated by Gianluca Marziani. Also in 2018 he presented a retrospective at the Museo Laboratorio d'Arte Contemporanea (a spinoff from the Sapienza University of Rome, at the Palazzo del Rettorato), collecting his work from the mid-1950s to today.
Since 1979 he has been dividing his time between

and the medieval town of ''Isola Farnese'', near

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Film

In 2018 he contributed to ''The Man Who Stole Banksy'', a documentary nominated for the 2018

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

.IMDB link The Man Who Stole Banksy
/ref>

Awards

In 1968 he received the Guggenheim Fellowship for Sculpture in America.

External links

* *Websit
www.paolobuggiani.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buggiani, Paolo 1933 births Living people Italian male sculptors Italian contemporary artists Italian male painters Italian conceptual artists People from Castelfiorentino