When the young artist Salvo (1947-2015) moved to Paris at the end of 1968, he had previously worked as a painter and copied works by old masters and famous modernists. He was inspired by the cultural revolution of the late 1960s and worked as a conceptual artist after his return to Turin. He also maintained close contact with the Arte Povera movement. His photomontages and marble panels, in which only individual words or phrases are engraved, are an expression of Salvo's ironic and provocative reflection on art.
From 1973, he decided to devote himself entirely to painting, an unusual step for the time. His modern interpretations of Renaissance art and his later deserted »landscapes of longing« are characterized by recurring motifs and explore Salvo's approach to painting as language and language as art. From November 1, 2024 to May 25, 2025, the Pinacoteca Agnelli in Turin will be showing Salvo's work more comprehensively than ever before in the exhibition Arrivare in tempo (Arriving on time).
Salvo, born Salvatore Mangione, had his first solo exhibition with his photomontages at the Galleria Sperone in Turin in 1970. His first international show followed in Paris in 1971 and in 1972 he took part in Documenta 5 in Kassel. Until his death, Salvo continued to explore art through painting in his unique style. In 1986, the artist published his treatise On Painting, which was published in Italian, English and German.
