Ugo Nespolo (Mosso 1941)

His beginnings on the Italian art scene date back to the 1960s, to Pop Art, to the future conceptualists and poverists (exhibitions at Remo Pastori's Il Punto gallery in Turin and Galleria Schwarz in Milan). Never absolutely tied to one strand, his production was immediately characterised by an accentuated ironic, transgressive imprint and a personal sense of fun that would always represent a sort of trademark. In the 1970s Nespolo experimented with different techniques: embroidery, inlay with precious materials (ebony, mother-of-pearl, ivory, porcelain, silver). From the 1980s Nespolo began working for the theatre, designing sets and costumes for Ferruccio Busoni's Turandot at the Stamford State Opera in 1986 and the sets and costumes for Paisiello's Don Chisciotte at the Teatro dell'Opera in Rome in 1990. In these years Nespolo took over the artistic direction of Richard Ginori and began to collaborate with the Murano glassworks Barovier & Toso, exhibiting these works at the Museum of Ceramics in Faenza, in Japan at the International Ceramic Festival, Shigaraki, and in Venice with the solo exhibition La Passerella. In 1998, he realised a ten-metre sculpture for the city of San Benedetto del Tronto, in painted steel, "Lavorare Lavorare, Preferisco il Rumore del Mare" ("I Prefer the Noise of the Sea"). Amongst the various activities Nespolo is involved in, in 2002 he began working for GTT (Gruppo Trasporti Torinese) on the decoration of the twenty-six stations of the new Turin Metro. On 21 October 2007, Nespolo took over as President of the National Cinema Museum, which he will hold until 2014.