Gruppo N
Italian group of artists. It was formed in Padua in 1959. It included Alberto Biasi (b 1937), Ennio Chiggio (b 1937), Giovanni Antonio Costa (b 1935), Edoardo N. Landi (b 1937) and Manfredo Massironi (b 1937). The group gained notoriety in 1959 when Massironi competed unsuccessfully for the Premio San Fedele, for which he submitted a piece of cardboard that he had selected because of the interesting optical qualities of its surface. During the 1960s
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Gruppo N
Italian group of artists. It was formed in Padua in 1959. It included Alberto Biasi (b 1937), Ennio Chiggio (b 1937), Giovanni Antonio Costa (b 1935), Edoardo N. Landi (b 1937) and Manfredo Massironi (b 1937). The group gained notoriety in 1959 when Massironi competed unsuccessfully for the Premio San Fedele, for which he submitted a piece of cardboard that he had selected because of the interesting optical qualities of its surface. During the 1960s Gruppo N played an important part in the development of Op art in Italy. The work of Biasi, for example, included geometric abstract reliefs with striking optical effects, such as the Optical-dynamic Relief (Drops) (painted iron and card, 1962; Padua, priv. col., see exh. cat., p. 37); this attempted to create an effect analogous to the patterns caused by drops of water falling on a liquid surface. The group’s gallery, Studio N, which opened in Padua in November 1960, rapidly became an important centre for experimental art, music and poetry. The group had its own room at the Venice Biennale of 1964 and also participated in various exhibitions of Arte programmata in Italy, as well as showing work at Studio F in Ulm (1963) and the Museum Sztuki, Lódz (1967).
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