It was Baj who introduced him to Enrico Castellani and Piero Manzoni, with whom Agostino Bonalumi founded the art magazine Azimuth in ’59. The magazine was published in only two issues, the first in 1959 and the second in the following 1960.
Also in 1959, the collaboration between the three artists ended for personal reasons. During this period, the painter began to emerge with his own artistic individuality. It was at the end of the same year that the extroflexed canvas appeared for the first time. The extroflexions are the expression of an art that is not only to be looked at but creates an illusion of movement with its plasticity, and also seems to want to be touched, to lead the observer to discover three-dimensionality and thus the complexity of the world. The play of light and shadow that painters used to give depth here goes beyond illusion to become concrete and undeniable. An art that transcends appearance and all its theories to show itself for what it really is: a combination of visual sensations that, from the figurative plane, invade the spectator’s space, making them a participant in their own reality.
In 1961, the painter, now a promising figure in Italian art thanks to his participation in numerous international exhibitions, married Giuliana Oliva, whom he met at work, which he could not yet give up. That same year, supported by his wife, he decided to dedicate himself exclusively to art and in ’64 signed his first contract with Arturo Schwarz, exhibiting at the inauguration of his gallery the following year.
In 1967, during the exhibition "Lo spazio dell’immagine", Bonalumi exhibited his first environment called Blu abitabile. Emblematic of the unique and original nature of the thought of an almost philosopher-artist, this creation stands at the intersection between sculpture and architecture, without the possibility of separating these two worlds. Built on a circular base, the immediate impression is that of an art that becomes, as the title suggests, an environment. It therefore becomes livable. And it does so in a way that seems to welcome the observer by enveloping them in its monochromatic note. The wall is scattered with extroflexions that, following one another from bottom to top, create an optical illusion effect and almost a tactile perception, also favored by the lenticular floor.
In his private life, Agostino Bonalumi tried to fill the gaps in his educational path, which stopped at middle school, by studying philosophy and showing particular interest in phenomenology.
From the early ’70s to the late ’80s, the artist created a new series of works called "a griglia" which continued until 1989.
By 1990, having exhausted the cycle of grid works, Bonalumi reworked the concept of extroflexion based on a steel structure that almost seems to come to life.
In 2002, he was also awarded the "President of the Republic" prize issued by the Accademia di San Luca in Rome.
In the following years, he continued his artistic activity, producing his last works using the steel rod technique.
Ill for some time, Agostino Bonalumi died following a collapse on September 18, 2013.