Piero Dorazio

Piero Dorazio biography

Dorazio had already been producing abstract paintings since 1951, whilst studying his soon to be aborted architecture studies in Rome. These then led to early still life and landscape pictures influenced by Expressionism and Cubism. During numerous stays in Paris and New York he met Surrealist and Abstract Expressionist artists including Marc Rothko and Barnett Newman, whose colour fields left a lasting impression on him.

In the 1960s, he produced his first compositions consisting of coloured bands. The artist mostly used pure primary colours in these works, layered on top of each other or as colour stains, rhythmised in lineal grids. Dorazio, who also penned many programmatic writings, belongs to the leading representatives of concrete art in Italy. In 1959 and 1964, he took part in documenta in Kassel. As well as works on canvas, he has also produced lithographs, etchings (including numerous book illustrations), glass windows, mosaics, ceramics and stage sets.