1935 Virmercate
- lebt und arbeitet in Desio bei Mailand

Due to his unusual talents, Agostino Bonalumi exhibited his first works in Virmercate at the age of thirteen, figurative works on paper. While he artistically formed himself autodidactically, he attended the Istituto Tecnico Industriale to become a tracer. Between 1957 and 1958 Bonalumi frequented Enrico Baj's studio in Milan, where he met with Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani, with whom he exhibited for the first tie in 1958. Shortly afterwards he founded the journal and gallery ‚Azimuth' with these two artists. At that time Bonalumi, who was close to Lucio Fontana and Informel at the beginning, attended to reliefs and three-dimensional space arrangements. Already in 1960 the founders of ‚Azimuth' parted ways and Bonalumi and Manzoni joined the group ‚ZERO'. The following year Bonalumi was co-founder of the group ‚Nouvelle Ecole Européenne' in Lausanne. Shortly afterwards he designed settings and costumes for the ballet ‚Partitia' by G. Petrassi on the occassion of the ‚Stagione lirica ‚70' in Verona. Since then he worked as a costume and stage designer for various theatres in Italy. In the 1970's Bonalumi mainly set aside the pictorial elements in favour of a pronounced three-dimensionality: wooden elements annul the pictorial two-dimensionality. The artist created works. which were formed by geometrical forms. 20 years later the attempt to loosen these stiff forms led him to a new freedom of movement of the included objects. Monochromatic works, in which heightenings and indentations were marked by wires, applied to the backside came into existence. The canvas' compact structure was broken up by moving line webs, which exceed the edges. Bonalumi participated in several Biennales and is today still present due to his numerous exhibitions in Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the USA since the 1960s.

Bonalumi, A.

Bonalumi, A.