Renzo Nucara biography

Renzo Nucara, born in Crema in 1955, is a renowned Italian artist who has distinguished himself with a unique and innovative artistic language. He grew up in Bergamo, where he attended art high school. As early as 1970, he practiced watercolor painting, creating surreal landscapes and developing what would become his artistic language. In 1973, after graduating, he enrolled at the Accademia di Brera in Milan. Here, he came into contact with the works of Lucio Fontana, Alberto Burri, and American Pop Art, which had a significant influence on his artistic journey. He began his career painting oil paintings, then, under the guidance of artist Mario Benedetti, he experimented with new techniques and materials, such as acrylic colors and collages.
Renzo Nucara opens his first solo exhibition in 1977 at the Galleria Ticino in Milan, showcasing works that reflect his interest in a new form of artistic communication. In the 1980s, the artist focuses on the theme of the diary. Emotions, sensations, and daily events are depicted on the canvas, often through reversed or fragmented phrases, in a constant tension between the revealed and the hidden.
Subsequently, Nucara's art undergoes a significant evolution: writing becomes a sign, two-dimensionality gives way to three-dimensionality, and the use of materials expands to include wood, reclaimed objects, and transparent films. Thus, the Memory Boxes are born, creations in which the artist combines the playful and the ironic.
In 1993, Renzo Nucara founded, along with five other artists, the Cracking Art Group. Plastic became the main material, becoming a symbol of their social and ecological commitment. With the group, he participated in the 49th Venice Biennale with the installation SOS World: more than a thousand recycled and gilded plastic turtles invaded the gardens around the historic pavilions. He returned to the Biennale with the group in 2011 and 2013.
In the 1990s, Renzo Nucara created the Reperti, two-dimensional works that evoke the idea of an object corroded by time. These works, initially made with papier-mâché and foam rubber, were later created in plastic material enriched with layers of color, granules, pigments, and natural elements.
Parallel to his work in the Cracking Art Group, Renzo Nucara continues his individual artistic research. In the early 2000s, he began working on Resinfilm, compositions that combine resins, pigments, natural and artificial objects, transforming the exhibition space into a landscape. His journey continues with projects like Arbre Magique, created together with his wife Carla Volpati, and Time Machine, and in 2013 Stratofilm was born, a artwork composed of stratified methacrylate frames with natural elements and everyday objects."
More recently, Renzo Nucara has started creating NFT (non-fungible token) works, entering the world of Cryptoart and confirming his ongoing pursuit of new forms of artistic expression. Renzo Nucara stands out not only for his versatility and creativity but also for his social and environmental commitment, making him a prominent figure in the Italian contemporary art scene.