Agostino Bonalumi was born in Vimercate in 1935.

He studied technical and mechanical design and in 1948, at the age of thirteen, he exhibited his first works in his hometown. His first personal exhibition was held in Milan in 1956; in 1958 he began working with Enrico Castellani and Piero Manzoni, taking part in a group exhibition in Milan, which will be followed by others in Rome and other European cities.

 

Participating in the foundation of the Azimuth magazine and following the path of Lucio Fontana, the mentor of the group, Agostino Bonalumi begins to develop the idea of what he describes as “object-painting”.

 

In 1959, his first exhibition abroad was organized in Rotterdam. The following year the artist will be one of the founders of the international New School Movement in Lausanne. Bonalumi will tighten close bonds with the German art scene, such as the “Zero Movement”. He will participate several times in the Venice Biennale (1966 and 1970), the San Paolo Biennial (1967) and the Young Artists Biennial in Paris. Subsequently he spends a period of study and work in America, living for a certain time in New York, and in North Africa.

The following years the artist sees his work regularly present in numerous per- sonal and collective exhibitions in every part of the world to which numerous retrospectives will follow in recent years.

Agostino Bonalumi passed away in Monza in September 2013.