Fabrizio Pozzoli was born in
1973 in Milan. Besides his scientific studies, he boasts an experience as
assistant scenographer. He attends various stages in the United States and
England. He makes researches in the graphic and writing fields and is trained
at the School of Comics in Milan, where he achieves precise abilities in the
anatomical representation of the shape he will always be faithful to. Since the
end of the nineties he works to tridimensional metal sculptures, created with
iron wires, generally protected with silicon, but sometimes intentionally left
to rust corrosion (plumb layers and mirrors). Between 1998 and 1999 Pozzoli
lives in London and Windsor.
His exhibitions are frequently
given a form of installations of various shapes linked by a common theme. In
2002 some of these shapes draw up on the inside or rise from architectural
structures made of iron mantled with rust: they are the prodromes, in terms of
study, of a wider conception of shape in the space as scene, that have recently
resulted in the representation of theatre events around Pozzoli’s life-size
sculptures. The iron wire is often accompanied by copper wire, with an increase
of the dramatic imprint or as indicator of the eye trips over the shape’s body.
An increase of the luminaristic impact is also obtained by coating the
materials with zinc.
In 2005, he starts to work on
oversize sculptures, no longer only concentrating on the whole body but also on
the face and its features.
From 2007, Pozzoli starts to
include the element of rust in his work, which he achieves through the natural
oxidization of metal when exposed to the elements.
In 2008, his personal
exhibition OVERSIZE at the Montrasio Arte Gallery di Milano is enhanced
by pictures taken by the renowned photographer Gianni Berengo Gardin, who
portrays the young artist at work in his studio. Pozzoli spends three months in
New York at the HSF residence for artists, where he holds a personal
exhibition.
In 2009, he comes third in the Premio
Arti visive San Fedele in Milan. He features in the catalogue Gianni
Berengo Gardin – Reportrait , amongst the culture personalities of the XX
century portrayed by the celebrated photographer. The catalogue is connected to
a major exhibition at the Palazzo Penotti Ubertini in Orta San Giulio (NO). on
the occasion of the Milo Manara exhibition in Venice, at the Palazzo
Querini Stampalia, Pozzoli is asked to create four sculptures as a tribute to
the great illustrator.
In 2010, his works coexist in a
strong dialogue with the paints of Gianfranco Ferroni, during the
exhibition Attese, at The Eroici Furori Gallery in Milan.
For the “Prodromes” exhibition,
held at the Galleria Cavaciuti in Milan in 2013, Pozzoli produced a series of
sculptures where the wire figures interacted with every day materials and
objects representing daily life and the relationships that humans inevitably
form with them. These pieces were designed using rust to draw human figures on
thin sheets of iron. The catalogue for this exhibition featured photographs
taken at Pozzoli’s studio by the Austrian photographer Andreas H. Bitesnich.
The exhibition entitled
“Intrecci” (intertwinings) took place in May 2014 at the Gli Eroici gallery
outside Milan. It showed the on-going interaction between Pozzoli and leading
contemporary photographers in the co-existence of his sculptures with Polaroid®
film mosaics by Maurizio Galimberti.
In the 2016 “Paroxysm” exhibition,
held at the Galleria Cavaciuti in Milan, Pozzoli presented prototypes from a
new concept (The Holes), in which, for the first time the human body is
corroded in a series of wall pieces that start to resemble an installation. The
drawings and sketches in ink, which debuted at this exhibition, were
translations on paper of the wire sculptures.
In 2017, Pozzoli started to
focus on creating new and important installation pieces. He added new, highly
symbolic elements to his iconic use of wire (wood, rusty nails, mattresses
covered in cuts and sutures, withered plants, insects…).
In 2019, the big work Trough
Life won two Special Prizes for the Premio Arte Laguna, at the Arsenale in
Venice, as the best art installation.
In 2021, the exhibition THE
HARD LAND makes rust, torn, threadbare fabrics; oxidised iron, stones, barbed
wire gilded surfaces the protagonists. Pozzoli’s material world has been
enriched with new components over time.
The artist’s aesthetic and
communicative work has become semantically much more complex, much sharper, and
dares to provoke inner conflicts, reawakening anxieties and highly emotional
states of mind.
Some of his sculptures are
featured in important public and private collections, including Il Parco di
Sculture at the Idroscalo in Milan and the Fondazione Bracco.
Since 2004, some of Pozzoli’s
pieces have been used on various theatre sets (Filodrammatici, Libero,
Binario7).
Fabrizio Pozzoli has exhibited his work in Europe, America
and Asia.
