Biography
Gianfranco Meggiato was born on August 26, 1963, in Venice where he attended the Istituto Statale d’Arte studying sculpture in stone, bronze, wood, and ceramics. In his work, Meggiato looks to the great masters of the 20th century: Brancusi for his search for essentiality, Moore for the internal-external relationship of his maternities, and Calder for the openness to space of his works.
Space, in fact, enters Meggiato’s works and the void becomes as important as the full. The essential is invisible to the eyes: you cannot touch ideals, feelings, dreams, you can only live them. The artist models his sculptures taking inspiration from biomorphic tissue and the labyrinth, which symbolizes man’s tortuous path aimed at finding himself and revealing his own precious inner sphere. Meggiato thus invents the concept of “introsculpture” in which the observer’s gaze is drawn towards the interiority of the work, not limiting itself only to the external surfaces. “On a formal level, space and light do not border the work, they slide over it as if it were an object in the round, and penetrate its interior, wrapping lattices and tangles, reaching the point of illuminating the central sphere as the ideal point of arrival.”
Since 1998, he has been invited to exhibit in museums, galleries, and public squares all over the world: USA, Canada, Great Britain, Denmark, Germany, Belgium, Holland, France, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Principality of Monaco, Ukraine, Russia, India, China, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, South Korea, Singapore, Taipei, Australia.
He has also been invited to exhibit at the 54th and 55th VENICE BIENNALE in the national pavilions (2011-2013) and at MANIFESTA12 (2018).
Since 2017, he has created large installations with social and educational themes, placing them in significant public locations that are often part of the UNESCO heritage. In the same year, he was awarded the prestigious ICOMOS-UNESCO PRIZE “for having masterfully combined the ancient and the contemporary in sculptural installations of great evocative power and aesthetic value.”
In August 2023, the FONDAZIONE ARTE E CULTURA GIANFRANCO MEGGIATO was established with the aim of enhancing and preserving the work of Gianfranco Meggiato and, in general, of promoting art and culture.
Since 2017 he has decided to deal with scientific and social issues through the creation oflarge public installations with monumental works:
“The Garden of the Silent Muses” (Catanzaro 2017) symbolically placed to defend our values and our culture from terrorism.
“The Spiral of Life” (Palermo 2018) within Manifesta 12, dedicated to the innocent victims of the mafia.
“The Garden of Zyz” for Matera European Capital of Culture (2019), wanted to be a meeting point between cultures often in conflict with each other in the logic that everything is one.
“Quantum Man: There is no Future without Memory” (2021) with a large personal exhibition with monumental works at the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento in an attempt to find the point of contact between archaeology, philosophy and quantum physics.
“The Spiral of Life” (2022), the installation for the municipality of Prato and the Pecci museum which saw a representation of the installation dedicated to the innocent victims of the mafia.
“The Breath of Form” (2022), City of Pisa, ITALY, promoted by the Municipality of Pisa, sponsored by the Tuscany Region, Scuola Normale Superiore and Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, exhibition of 14 monumental works in the city and a solo exhibition at the church of Santa Maria della Spina
“The Encounter – Symbol of Peace” (2023), City of Rome, ITALY, promoted by the Municipality of Rome Municipio 1, installation dedicated to the first anniversary of the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.
“The Dioscuri Return to Rome” (2023), City of Rome, ITALY, promoted by the Municipality of Rome Municipio 1, with the patronage of the “Via Veneto” Association.
“Lines of the Invisible” (2024), Baku, ARZEBAIJAN, at Heydar Aliyev Center Installation of 39 works, of which 19 monumental and 19 unpublished.
“Awakening” (2024), Forte dei Marmi, ITALY, Installation of 11 monumental works, promoted by the Municipality of Forte dei Marmi.