Biography Bruno Ceccobelli
Bruno Ceccobelli was born in Montecastello di Vibio (Perugia) Italy, on the 2nd of September 1952.
Ceccobelli now lives and works in Todi.
Along his forming way he meets different masters, among which Emma Cusani expert in Theosophy, Francesco Albanese connoisseur of cabala and alchemy, and Donato Margotta, a street antroposophist. He feels deep gratitude for his teacher Toty Scaloia, informal abstract artist, with whom he graduates in scenic design at the “Accademy of fine arts” in Rome.
Ceccobelli loves and studies artists such as Malevich, Kandiskij, Klee, De Chirico, Brancusi, Beuys, Mirò, Dalì, Tapies, Magritte, and he completes his eclectic juvenile studies by learning about eastern philosophies.
From the mid seventies on, he is one of the young artists who occupies and restores the old pasta factory “Cerere”, in the San Lorenzo neighborhood in Rome, a group of creative artists later well-known under the term “Nuova Scuola Romana” or “Scuola di San. Lorenzo” or “Officina San. Lorenzo”. His research starts out as performative-conceptual, reaching further on, pictorial abstractions leading to a genuine spiritual symbolism.
In 1971 he takes part in his first group-exhibition in Austria at the Europäisches Forum of Alpbach invited by Palma Bucarelli.
In 1972 he is part of S.p.A. an artists’ roman group, which will exhibit at the “Fiera di Roma – Inco/Art74” in 1974.
In 1977 Bruno Ceccobelli opens his first solo-exhibition in Rome at the gallery Spazio Alternativo with works from 1971-75; the invitation is written by Cesare Vivaldi.
In 1977 he participates also in two solo-exhibitions at “La Stanza”, an independent place attended by a small group of artists.
In 1979 he is invited to the Festival of Italian Culture of Belgrade and to group exhibitions in France, Germany, and Croatia. The following year he is invited to the “Biennale des Jeunes” in Paris, and has solo-exhibitions at Ugo Ferranti Gallery (Roma 1981), at Yvon Lambert (Paris 1981) and at Salvatore Ala (New York 1983).
In 1984 Italian critic Achille Bonito Oliva organizes the exhibition “Ateliers”, inviting the artists of the former Pastificio Cerere to open their studios to the public. In the same year, and again in 1986, Ceccobelli is invited to the Biennale in Venice, respectively in the sections “Aperto 84” and “Arts and alchemy” ’86.
In 1985 he is in New York, as guest of Gian Enzo Sperone Westwater; in 1988 again in New York (Jack Shainman Gallery), Roma (Centro di Cultura Ausoni) and Madrid (Mar Estrada Gallery); in the same year he presents 777 little works at the Caffè Florian in Venice.
In 1989 he exhibits in Paris (Yvon Lambert), London (Mayor Rowan Gallery) and Barcelona (Thomas Carstens).
At the beginnings of the ’90s he has various solo-exhibitions in Germany and Austria; in 1993 he exhibits in Montreal (Museum Centre Saydie Bronfman) and Rimini (Galleria d’Arte Moderna).
In 1994 he is asked to teach in Senegal a course of artistic formation at l’Ecole Nationale des Beux-Artes, and in 1996 he participates in the “Quadriennale di Roma”.
In 1999 Arturo Schwarz is the curator of Ceccobelli’s exhibition “Trascorsi d’Asfalto” at the Guastalla Centro Arte Gallery (Livorno) and in the same year he exhibits in Bilbao (Luis Borgus)
During the Jubilee Year (2000) he is entrusted with the realization of the huge portals in iron corten and bronze for the Cathedral of Terni, in Italy.
In 2002 Ceccobelli celebrates at the B.M.B. Gallery his twenty years of exhibitions in Dutch Galleries.
The next year he publishes the book Color Bellezza, a collection of his essays expressing his longing for a forthcoming aesthetic society. Also in 2005 he holds his important solo-exhibition “Classico Eclettico” at the Archeological Museum of Villa Adriana in Tivoli (Roma).
In 2004 Ceccobelli realizes the mosaic “Eternity is the true healer” in Gibellina (Sicily) and the year after the Guastalla Gallery in Livorno presents the anthological exhibition “Big Works 1989-2005”. In the same year he writes the book Tempo senza tempo della pittura, which is a collection of comparisons about yesterday’s and today’s artists, an opportunity to theorize his aesthetical arguments.
In 2005 he is appointed as Director of the Academy of fine arts “Pietro Vannucci” of Perugia, Italy.
In 2006 Ceccobelli presents a series of marble sculptures in Verona and in Pietrasanta at the gallery Spirale Arte , and participates in the important group exhibition “San Lorenzo” at Villa Medici (Roma).
Among the most recent exhibitions to be noted are the site-specific installations: “Longa Marcia post-temporale” (Volume! Roma 2007), “Invasi” (Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Roma), “Attici unici” (Attico of Fabio Sargentini, Roma 2009), and the impressive “Natalis in Urbe” (Basilica di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, Roma 2009).
In 2009 the most important event is the retrospective exhibition dedicated to the “Officina San Lorenzo” by the Mart National Museum (Rovereto, Italy), which traces the history of one of the most influential artistic group of the italian Twentieth Century.
In 2010 he takes part of the group-exhibition at the Limen 895 Gallery “San Lorenzo, la soglia dell’arte”, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva (Roma) and is in the 16th Biennale of contemporary sacred art organized by the Italian Foundation Staurós (Isola del Gran Sasso). Also to be remembered is the exhibition “In carta sogni. Works on Paper 1980-2010”, organized by R. Rodriguez, at the Museum of Abruzzo People (Pescara 2010), which, for the first time ever, shows Ceccobelli’s main graphic works. In the same year the Anfiteatro Arte Gallery (Padova) organizes the retrospective “Early Works”, which gives a survey of the extraordinary period between 1982 and 1992. In 2010 Ceccobelli publishes his third book, Gratiaplena. Economia della grazia, which contains his spiritual legacy in the form of a collection of inspired writings on aesthetic and society.
Among the numerous events in 2011, we must cite the site-specific installation “Schöne Träume” in Rovereto, in which the artist tries to capture the beauty of the dreams impressed on pillow cases. It is also the year of the participation in the important exhibition “Grandi opere…grandi” at the Marconi Foundation in Milan and in the Lazio Stand at the Venice Biennale (curated by Vittorio Sgarbi).
In 2012 Ceccobelli presents his solo-exhibition “Eroi d’Eros” (Catania), which collects 101 erotic drawings, then at the Museum of modern Art in Buenos Aires, Argentina (2013). Among the group-exhibitions we point out the show held at the Galerie Placido (Paris), in which he is presented together with his friends Dessì, Nunzio, Gallo, Pizzi and Cannella. In Padova, October 2012, he sets up “Con passi Dorati” (at the oratorio di San Rocco) a site-specific installation exhibition supported by Padova Council hall.
In 2013 an important solo-exhibition is “209-Icona from NYC”, in Novara in the gallery Nunzio Sorrenti with small works from the ’80. “Gli anni ’70 a Roma”, organised by Daniela Lancioni and presented at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni di Roma is the group-exhibition that closes the year 2013.
In 2014 the solo exhibitions are: “Summa Felix” in Cosenza at the Vertigo Arte Cultural Association, full of his pictorial well known symbols; furthermore “Terra Cotta” at the municipal space La Rinascente in Padova, with an anthology on the twenty-years production of his ceramics, and with the participation of his sons Auro and Celso; and “Port’Ostensorio” at the Susanna Orlando gallery in Pietrasanta with some consacrated host-shaped paintings blessed by art. In December 2014 a collective “Fuoco nero” – Materia e struttura attorno e dopo Burri, organised by A. C. Quintavalle, presented at the Scuderie in Pilotta, Parma.
In 2015, the solo exhibition “Capovolgere” – l’ABC Ceccobelli”, an exhibition at the Pastificio Cerere Foundation in Rome, divided into two parts: “Pupille” with works on mirrored bitumen; “Ritratti di bandiera” a six-handed work with his sons Auro and Celso. Still in 2015 a collective exhibition in Sant’Etien organized by the VOLUME! Foundation, at the Museum of Modern Art: “Arte Contemporanea”.
In 2016 the exhibition “Icons”, curated by Cicno G. G. Edizioni, a solo exhibition at the Academy of Saint Petersburg in Russia, with works dedicated to the Byzantine classical tradition; and always in 2016 in Ravenna, at the National Museum and at the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare in Classe: “Ceccobelli and the icons of the Classense Collection”. “Con sorti Belli” is another personal exhibition, presented in Rome at the Augusto Consorti Gallery.
In 2017 the exhibitions are: “Autoritratti da dentro – La ceramica prende forma”, in luster ceramics curated by Marco Tonelli, at the Palazzo Podestarile in Montelupo Fiorentino; and the exhibition “Undisclosed stories”, curated by Davide Sarchioni and Maria Concetta Monaci, in Capalbio, at the Palazzo Collacchioni.
In 2018 he takes part in the collective “Challenging Beauty – Insights in Italian Contemporary Art”, curated by Lorand Hegyi, in the Parkview Museum in Singapore; “Painting after post-modernism” curated by Barbara Rose, in the fabulous Royal Palace of Caserta; “La Scuola di San Lorenzo. Una Factory romana”, at the Museo Carisj, in Jesi; and “Al passo con la Costituzione”, at the Central State Archive, in Rome; while among the personal exhibitions we enumerate the great site-specific installation “T’odi” curated by D. Lancioni, at the “Sala delle Pietre” in Todi and at the same time “Primo segno – Recente sogno”, at the Bibo’s Place Gallery, in Todi.
In 2019 his works are shown at the following group exhibitions: ”Collezione Farnesina”, India Art Fair, Nuova Delhi, then traveling: Calcutta e Mumbai;“Unforgettable Umbria” Baldeschi Palace, curated by the Cassa di Risparmio Foundation in Perugia;“25 libri 25 artisti”, Williamson Gallery, Los Angeles (USA) curated by P. Varroni; and the solo exhibitions: ”Doppia Luce”, at the Galleria E3 Arte Contemporanea in Brescia and “MORMORIIMARMOREI”, at the Museo Collicola, in conjunction with the 62° Spoleto Festival curated by M. Tonelli.