Vincenzo Agnetti Biography
Vincent Agnetti
Vincenzo Agnetti, born in Milan on September 14, 1926, is considered one of the leading figures of Italian conceptual art. Graduating from the Brera Academy, Vincenzo Agnetti's path is marked by constant experimentation and intense theoretical reflection. After an initial period dedicated to informal painting and poetry, Agnetti approaches the more radical movements of the '50s and '60s. His friendship with artists like Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani introduces him to the Azimuth group, with whom he collaborates through critical and theoretical writings. However, it is from the '60s onwards that Vincenzo Agnetti abandons traditional painting to devote himself entirely to conceptual art.
In 1962, Agnetti left for Argentina, where he worked in the field of electronic automation. During these years away from the Italian art scene, the artist developed deep reflections on the nature of art and existence.
He returns to Italy in 1967, firmly determined to transform his vision into manifest art. His first exhibition at the Palazzo dei Diamanti in Ferrara represents a milestone in his journey. Here he exhibits Principia, a artwork that reflects on the relativity of meanings in language.
Among the most famous works of the artist Vincenzo Agnetti is the Macchina drogata (1968), a Divisumma 14 Olivetti calculator modified to generate words instead of numbers, offering a radical critique of language and its ambiguities. In the 1970s, the artist created the Feltri and Bacheliti, works that introduce words, numbers, and diagrams in an intellectual and visual dialogue. Artworks like the Progetto per un Amleto Politico (1973), defined as "static theater," explore the interaction between language, time, and political critique.
Parallel to his artistic production, Vincenzo Agnetti maintains an intense critical and theoretical activity. He collaborates with contemporary artists such as Colombo, Scheggi, and Parmiggiani, while maintaining a creative independence that distinguishes him from the main currents of the time. His work is often accompanied by writings and reflections that amplify its conceptual scope.
In 1975, Vincenzo Agnetti moved to New York, where he collaborated with the Feldman Gallery and held the exhibition Immagine di una mostra. The American experience further broadened his artistic vision, placing his artwork in dialogue with the international scene. The experiments continued with works like Gli eventi precipitano (1974), an exploration of the relationship between time, language, and visual representation.
In the last years of his life, artist Vincenzo Agnetti dedicated himself to Photo-graffie (1979-1981), works created on treated photographic paper, where he intervened with scratches to recover a figurative element in a conceptual key. These works represent a definitive fusion between poetry and image, two central elements in his artistic language. In 1978, he published Machiavelli 30, a collection of poems accompanied by images of his works, uniting writing and art in a single dialogue.
Vincenzo Agnetti suddenly dies in Milan on September 1, 1981, leaving the work Lucernario unfinished. His artistic legacy, however, continues to live on through his creations, which have redefined the boundaries of contemporary art.
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