ROMANO RIZZATO

Was born in 1936 in Milan, where he lives and works. From the beginning his interests inclined him towards visual language and non-figurative art. His works represented outlines and figures of flat geometry, in a reflection of architecture in general and contemporary architecture in particular.

He exhibited actively from 1966, bringing into focus an inventory of signs for use: regular, plain and linear figures in progression with interpenetrating effects. Colour on a scale reduced to black and white was used to symbolic effect.

His first group experiences were with the Parametro plastic arts research centre in Milan, which brought him into contact with different artists and tightened the definition of his personal expressive media. In 1969, with Miro Cusumano, he did the plastic work "Interata 1".

He experimented with various materials: marble to make a garden fountain; and painted metal in a project of about 20 linear metres for a high school at Modena.

He developed representative space by using combinations of modules in double or triple succession as well as serially; his use of colour was narrowed down still further: to black and white + red.

In 1970 the "Percorsi" were shown in Menton and Basle, and in 1971 in Milan, Enschede and Ulm. In 1973 he was invited to participate in travelling exhibitions: the Antwerp "Internationaler arbeskreis fûr konstruktive" was included in the 1973-74 Annual Silk Screen Portfolio and in 1974, with the Antwerp-Bonn Internationaal stude centrum woor constructive kunst" was included in the dritte jahresgrafikmappe, and in the "1t and 5v" exhibition; in the same year his work featured in the panorama "On the work as field" organised by the Serre Ratti cultural centre and presented by Luciano Caramel; and later at the "International Constructivism" organised by the Sincron Gallery of Brescia.

In 1976 he turned to the small format. The representative space which on large surfaces had been in expansion and parcelled, now became compact, leading to a miniaturisation in which the density of figures and colours - pairs of complementaries - necessitated changes: with the scale of greys in lower gradations favouring reduced contrasts.

His work widened to embrace the use of different types of paper, with a heightened awareness resulting from the transparency of colour and the use of texturized surfaces. These were continued on cardboard, board and canvas.

Since 1990 he has added the use of gradation to his representation, incorporating the intensive use of trompe-l'œil. In 1995 the curved figure further accentuated his repertoire. His reflections dwell on concepts of space and proportion, in the lack of a totality and its purposes, these concepts being principlespivotal to this adventure and its possibilities of describing things in their accidental and partial aspects.