Concetto Pozzati (Vò di Padova 1935-Bologna 2017)

Born in the province of Padua, his father, Mario Pozzati, was an artist who emigrated to Argentina and was a friend of De Chirico, De Pisis, Carrà, Guidi, Licini and Morandi. His uncle is Severo Pozzati, known as Sepo, one of the most important advertising collectors of the first half of the 20th century. Concetto graduated from the State Art Institute in Bologna in 1955 and in 1959 he joined the Roman gallery La Salita and the Milan gallery dell'Annunciata. Between 1963 and 1965 he was present at the Tokyo, São Paulo, Brazil, Spoleto and San Marino Biennales and reached the peak of his popularity when he participated in the Venice Biennale at only 28 years of age. After teaching in Florence and Venice, he directed the Academy of Fine Arts in Urbino and later became a professor of Painting at the Academy in Bologna. From the early 1960s, he directed his research towards a new figuration, elaborating sharp, geometrically structured images derived from mass media or inspired by the art of the past, often associated, in ironic assemblages, with different objects.