Biography

Antonio Corbo was born in Campobasso, where he resides. During the Mid ‘60s political and cultural ferment, he has been engaged on different levels: Art, Theatre and, after the first working years, his increasing interest in the labor union too. After this personal choice, he stayed in Rome for many years, but he never turned away and never detached from his hometown.

In this cultural atmosphere, added to the painting and the acting, he cultivated a personal interest hidden for years: the Poetry. In the ’90s, a collection of his poems entitled ” The gate of the beech trees” was published, within the series of “Contemporary Italian Poets ” (1992). He still cultivates this interest, publishing other poems, together with the printing of his exhibit catalogs, on newspapers and magazines.

Since the ‘60s up to the present, the author never stopped painting and he continued his research and his own experimentation into the various forms of arts, effectively and efficiently.

In the ‘60s and ‘70s Corbo, sensitive to listen to the voice of the suffering and to treat purely social issues through his figures, concentrates on expressionistic drawings and graphics, among which a large series of posters.

But, above all, he discovers the landscape, working intensively on it till the ‘90s. Gradually, the graphic signs are limited to purely figurative elements and painting presents itself, in audacious perspectives and effects, and in imaginary transfigurations.

The production of the first years of 2000 is closely related to the previous researches, but something forces its way, as, for instance, the matter, unbound and autonomous.
The dealt topics, ventilating a new interest of the painter, are now associated with the primordial, the birth of the Universe and the various forms of life. A return to the origin of things that puts to the test figurative representation, sometimes nullifying the latter.

Two important exhibitions in the Netherlands have been carried out during 2010 and 2011. The first one planned at the municipal and institutional office “Raadhuis”, Heemstede; the second one at the gallery “De Galerie“, Spieremburg, Haarlem.

With the solo-exhibit “Parallel Paths”, hosted in his hometown in 2011, the interplay between the painting and the poetry became the main theme in tribute to these two arts: the author creates a dialogue between them, using fruitful exchanges, in spite of the complexity of their deep structures and their respective codes.

In 2013 he set up five solo-exhibits. The first one in Genoa, into the seventeenth-century Palazzo Stella, with the title “Between Earth and Heaven”; the second one in Finale Ligure, “The Colors of the Unrest” and “Cosmic Visions” in conjunction with the sixth edition of the ” International Festival of Unrest “; the third and the fourth ones in the Valle d’ Aosta, respectively Brusson, Municipal Library and Saint-Vincent, City ‘s Civic Gallery.

He participated to the Ninth edition of ArteGenova – exhibition market of modern and contemporary art – and to the twenty-fourth edition of the Contemporary and Modern Exhibition Market in Padua.
As one of the finalists of the Fifth Biennale of Contemporary Art ” GenovArte 2013 ‘, he had his work “Cosmic Activity 2 ” been rewarded and reported by the jury. He also participated to the “Turin MIIT Biennale 2013 “, organized by the Italian Art review and the Arte International Museum as well as to numerous exhibitions, including the Art Exhibit ” ContemporaneaMente ” in Genoa, during the “Contemporary day ” and also the “Ad Aeternum: Art immortal”, organized in the Pope’s Palace Maffei Marescotti, Vatican City, Rome.

In the first months of 2014, he performed a solo-exhibition in Verres (AO) and participated to three exhibitions of art: the first one in Genoa, Satura Art Gallery, the second one in Milan, “MAEC – Milan Art & Events Center” – entitled “Winds of Art, the experience of the contemporary” and the third one in Ivrea, “Spazio Aperto” Gallery.

He also participated to the Biennale of Germany occurred in the Museum “Altes Dampfbad” in Baden-Baden, titled “The Art of Luxury” and, in London, to the exhibition “Royal Art in the World” at the Royal Opera Arcade Gallery, both curated by “Italian Art” and the MIIT Museum of Turin.

Invited to the “Present Art Festival in Shanghai 2014”, his work “The colors of dawn” has been exposed in China in various museums, cultural centers and galleries for a year.

In September and October 2014, in his hometown, at the headquarters of the Molise Culture Foundation, with the patronage of the Molise Region, the Province and the City of Campobasso, he has realized his first anthological exhibition “Introspection and vision.” On display 125 works of his artistic career placed between 1963 and 2014.

During 2015 he participated to the II International Art Biennial – Palermo Artexpo, Politeama Theatre – curated by Paolo Levi and Vittorio Sgarbi.

Hereafter he exhibited in Monreale (Sicily, Italy), in the historical complex of William II with its splendid Cathedral, where the City Council awarded him the ” William II Prize”, attributed to personalities of art and culture over the years.

In Malaga (Spain), near the birthplace of Picasso, at the art gallery Javier Román, the author performed a solo exhibition entitled “Dialogos”, meant as language subjects, techniques and color ascribable to his works in and to his life experiences.

He participated to the XVI Genoa Biennial, to “Photissima Art Fair & Festival 2015”, in the Cloister of the Friars at the Historical Archives of the State of Venice opened for the first time to painting and sculpture, and further, in Genoa, “StregARTE 2015 – the art that bewitches “, an International Contemporary Art Festival.

In conjunction with the opening of the 2015 Jubilee, in the prestigious halls of the “Palazzo Cardinal Cesi” in Rome, he was awarded the “International Award Michelangelo – Artists for the Jubilee” in the presence of celebrities from the world of culture.

Folders of his graphic works and of his posters were used right through some national and regional historical events, conferences and congresses.

The author was rewarded with numerous prizes and accolades by the critics. His works are exhibited in private collections, public institutions and museums, in Italy and abroad.