Biographies

Zorio, Gilberto

Gilberto Zorio was born in 1944 at Andorno Micca, near Biella. The artist’s research focuses on metamorphosis and alchemistry, exploring natural phenomena of transformation such as evaporation and oxidation. The idea of energy has been a constant theme running through his work; the attention devoted to electricity has led him to incorporate light bulbs, incandescence and phosphorescence in certain pieces, while elsewhere his has used stars and javelins, archetypical forms that evoke energy. His sculpture utilises a vast range of materials from which emerge gigantic steel stars or Pyrex beakers containing liquid solutions balanced on slim steel rods. Suspending these elements in deliberately precarious installations, the artist discusses the tensions and caducity of the physical, chemical and mental world.