On the occasion of the Brussels Gallery Weekend, Albert Baronian is delighted to present Gilberto Zorio’s 8th exhibition at the gallery.

This exhibition coincides almost to the day with the opening of the gallery 45 years ago. Albert Baronian wishes to pay tribute to Gilberto Zorio with whom he has worked for so long and whom he has always admired and shared a very profound friendship with.

Energy is the possibility of filling an emptiness, the possibility of emptying a fullness, the possibility of planning past, present and future, it is the possibility of rendering operative the conscious and unconscious functions of language.

(Gilberto Zorio, 1973)

Gilberto Zorio (born in 1944), lives and works in Torino. Gilberto Zorio is one of the founders and main representatives of Arte Povera, a prominent artistic movement that came to existence in Torino at the end of the 1960s.

His work explores the notion of energy through the use of modest or fragile materials, such as metal (lead, copper and steel), clay or light. Gilberto Zorio takes on the role of an alchemist, transforming materials thanks to chemical and mechanical operations. In order to do so, he uses elemental forces like the invisible action of oxidation and its effects on copper, or the heat intensity of metal in fusion. His sculptures and installations unveil the inherent tensions of the materials used and the tensions generated through their interaction. The star and the javelin – two archetypal shapes suggesting energy – appear among the recurrent themes of his work.

Since the 1960s, Gilberto Zorio has displayed his works in the most renowned museums of the world such as Guggenheim, Centre Pompidou, Stedelijk Museum, Kunstmuseum de Luzern, Kunstverein Stuttgart, Musée d’art moderne de Paris, Centre d’art Contemporain de Genève. In 2017-2018 the Castello di Rivoli in Torino dedicated an important retrospective to him.