Paolo Scheggi

Born in 1940 in Florence, Italy; dies in 1971 in Rome, Italy. Paolo Scheggi artistic training begins at the Istituto Statale di Belle Arti and continues at the Accademia di Belle Arti of Florence. His mother a painter, his grandfather a sculptor, will both influence his early career which begins in his family home in Settignano, where he creates his first experimental works characterised by superimposing various materials. He moves to Milan in 1961, and meets Lucio Fontana, who in 1962 will write the introduction for the exhibition in which the first Intersuperficie a zone riflesse is exhibited to the public. From this moment onwards, a strong friendship begins between the two, that will lead to consider Paolo Scheggi’s works as a ‘child’  born from the experience “Spazialista” of Lucio Fontana. Always in Milan, during the 1960s, Paolo Scheggi’s works are juxtaposed alongside other artists, who use the canvas as a sculptural surface to model, such as Getullio Alviani, Agostino Bonalumi and Enrico Castellani. This signature style will induce the art critic Gillo Dorfles in 1965 to coin the term “Object Painting”. Scheggi reaches international acclaim in 1966, when he is invited to participate to the XXXIII Venice Biennale in the exhibition, curated by Nello Ponente, Gruppi di opere: pitture sculture e grafiche, with his four Intersuperfici curve from white, from yellow, from blue and from red. Characterised by a strong interdisciplinary approach, Scheggi goes through different disciplines, from poetry to journalism, from architecture to fashion, where he collaborates with the atelier of Germana Marucelli in Milan. His artistic research shifts towards architectural urban projects in which the viewer is an active figure. An important project is L’intercamera plastica, modalità inter-spaziali per integrazioni plastiche all’architettura which is held at the Galleria del Naviglio in Milan in 1967. In 1968-1969, Scheggi becomes interested in theatre and performing arts, such as Oplà-stick, Passione secondo Paolo Scheggi (1969) and Marcia funebre o della geometria, processione secondo Paolo Scheggi (1969). His last works are shown at Venice Biennale in 1972 and 1976. Paolo Scheggi dies prematurely in 1971, the same year, the museum, Galleria Arte Moderna of Bologna, dedicates him a retrospective.