Sergio Sarri (1938-2018) - Macchina per scervellarsi

Hand-cut silkscreen in 75 copies from Studio D Milano in 1972. Copy 3/75
Sergio Sarri was born in Turin in 1938. The start of his artistic activity dates back to the early 1960s; he attended painting courses in Bern and Paris. His research is predominantly centered on the relationship between man and machine, a theme that was sharpened after a trip to the United States in 1965. In 1974 he receives a grant for study and residence from the Museum of Modern Art in Amsterdam and in 1975-1976 he works at the Cité des Arts in Paris. He receives numerous recognitions, including: Suzzara Prize, Bollate Prize (1967) and Ramazzotti Prize, Campigna Prize (1973), San Marino Prize (1978), Roncaglia Prize (1988), Sulmona Prize (1991), Busto Arsizio Prize (2001). From 1994 to 1997 he was an instructor of Artistic Anatomy at the Brera Academy in Milan. Over the years he appears in the most important international exhibitions: from the Salone della Giovane Pittura in Paris (1970) and Brussels (1971), to the International Art Biennale of Venice (1972 and 2011), to the Rome National Art Quadriennale (1986), to the Milan National Triennial of Art (1971, 1974 and 1993). After a Grand Tour that took him to the United States and Europe in the mid-1960s, Sarri returns to Italy and, initially referencing Fritz Lang’s experimental cinema “Metropolis,” creates the films: Le storie di Varazze, Le avventure di Nessuno and Vostock, an experience that remains a cornerstone for him both conceptually and visually and that launches the difficult task of considering painting as an avant-garde language.
The artist’s constant commitment is to investigate the objective and existential condition of man in relation to society. In his works everything seems to come apart in a state of illogic, in a deformation of a world dominated by technology, the “totem-machine,” situations that sometimes evoke a visionary sadomasochism. He dedicates himself for a long time to painting and advertising illustration before turning to comics in 1984, when, under the pseudonym SeSar, he begins publishing very particular stories in Corto Maltese in which he reinterpret myths and characters from American cinema of the 1930s-1950s: from Rita Hayworth to Errol Flynn, from Humphrey Bogart to King Kong. In 1995 he creates for the Lo Scarabeo publishing house the original Tarot of Cinema.
We recall only some of his significant exhibitions in Italy and abroad: Musée Municipal de Saint Paul de Vence, “Jeune peinture italienne” Isy Brachot – Geneva – Paris – Brussels, Galerie T. – Amsterdam, “Objectivity and Commitment” – Rome – Berlin, XXVII Milan Triennale of Art – Milan (1971); “Metamorphoses of the Object” Palazzo Reale – Milan, Graphic Biennale – Krakow – Poland, XXXVI International Art Biennale of Venice – Venice (1972); V Kunstmesse – Berlin, “Exorcism of Eros” Palazzo Esposizioni – Rome, Museum of Art – San Francisco – USA (1973); Galerie T – Amsterdam, X Biennale International d’Art – Menton – France, XXVIII Milan National Triennale of Art – Milan (1974); Galerie Arcanes – Brussels, Hagener Kunst Kabinet – Hagen – Germany, “Reality and its Image” Galerie E. De Causans – Paris (1975); Palazzo dei Diamanti – Ferrara, solo show (1976); “Quotidien: Histoire et Utopie” – Grenoble – France, “Art in Italy 1960/1977” Galleria Civica – Turin (1977); “Image-invention” Centro Culturale Italiano – Paris, Salon de la Jeune Peinture – Paris (1978); “Arte Italiana – Il Cairo – Egypt, “Nouvelles Tendences Italiennes” – Macon – France (1979); “Exposition Corps” – Tours – France, “Chronicle of the Years of Crisis” Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris – Paris (1980); Maison Rabelais – Metz – France, “Art ’12” – Basel – Switzerland (1981); Atelier Noblet – Grenoble – France (1982); “The Pop-Art and Italy” – Pavia (1983); Galerie G. Fall – Paris (1984); “ARCO ’85” – Madrid – Spain (1985); Galerie G. Fall – Paris, XI Italian National Quadriennale of Art – Rome (1986); “The Dance” Studio Gastaldelli – Milan (1987); “The Painted Screen” Centro Internazionale Brera – Milan, (1988); “Art and Sport” Stadio dei Marmi, Foro Italico – Rome (1989); Forte Spagnolo – L’Aquila, “Italy ’90 – Kickoff” Palazzo delle Stelline – Milan (1990); Galleria Millennium – Kunstmesse – Frankfurt (1991); Galleria Ca’ d’Oro – Rome, Biennale of Art “Olimpiadi ’92” – Barcelona – Spain (1992);
Casa della Cultura – Tavernes de la Valldigna – Valencia – Spain, “Homage to C. Schulz” Palazzo delle Esposizioni – Rome, Palazzo Fortuny – Venice, Rotonda della Besana – Milan, XXXII Milan National Triennale of Art – Milan (1993); “The Suzzara Prize – Selection of works 1948/1994” Casa del Mantegna – Mantua, “100 Artists for Milan” La Permanente in Milan – Milan, “Art Resists” Sala Archiginnasio – Bologna, “Memories: fifty years after”, 1945/95” – Milan, “Artissima” – Turin (1995); “Sarri in the Valencian collections” – Potries – Spain, “Art in the Academy” Civitanova Marche and Montesserat Gallery – New York – USA, “Artissima” – Turin, Montserrat Gallery – New York – USA, “Articolo 11 – against violence” Sala del Broletto – Como (1996); “Signs: Donzelli, Pozzati, Sarri” Galleria Varart – Florence, “The Modern Times of Sergio Sarri: works ’67-’97” Monographic Show, Galleria San Michele – Brescia (2002); University of Valencia – Spain, ”Symbols and spaces in Sergio Sarri’s painting” Area Expositions Zona Grandi Servizi Territoriali – Castelfranco Veneto (TV) (2003); “Animal Forms” Cloister of Collemaggio – L’Aquila, “Ars Locus Solus” Over Studio – Turin, “From Image to Matter” Area Expositions Zona Grandi Servizi Territoriali – Castelfranco Veneto (TV) (2004); “Naturarte” Castello Morando-Bolognini – Lodi, “From the fixed to the mobile” University of Valencia – Valencia – Spain (2005); “The critical image: Milan 1960s” Spazio Annunciata – Milan, “The critical image: Milan-Calice 1970s” Museum of Contemporary Art Casa del Console – Calice Ligure (SV) (2007); “Dante and the traitors” Casa di Dante – Pescara, 54th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, Italy Pavilion Lombardy section – Milan (2011); “The 60s/70s as we were” Spazio Annunciata – Milan, “Flaneur” Atelier du Prè – Cannes – France (2012); “Painters of Paper” Art & Comics – Turin, “Rainbowroom and other recent works” Galleria Annunciata – Milan, “Rainbowroom 2” Santa Caterina Monastic Complex – Finalborgo (SV), “The Latitudes of Art” Biennale, Palazzo Ducale – Genoa (2015); “Presence of Art at Calice Ligure. The Calice School” Museum of Contemporary Art, Casa del Console – Calice Ligure (SV) (2016); “The Game of Pairs. Sarri-Bertini” Museum of Contemporary Art, Casa del Console – Calice Ligure (SV), “The Latitudes of Art” Biennale, Palazzo Vigado – Budapest – Hungary, “Sergio Sarri. Works 1967-2017” Monographic Exhibition, Galleria Robilant&Voena – Milan, “Space Ballet” Villa Argentina – Viareggio (LU) (2017); “Sarri BIG SIZE” wide-spread art show – Finale Ligure (SV), “100% ITALIA. A Hundred Years of Masterpieces” Museo Ettore Fico – Turin (2018).