Born on September 21, 1944, in Andomo Micca, Italy.
He entered Turin’s Accademia di Belle Arti in 1963 to study painting. However, he soon moved on to sculpture and had his first solo show of three-dimensional works in 1967 at the Galleria Sperone, Turin. Associated with the revolutionary Arte Povera [more] movement, Zorio exhibited in a number of the defining group shows of Arte Povera in 1967 and 1968. He was included in a group exhibition, Nine Young Artists: Theodoron Awards, at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, in 1969. Around this time, Zorio embarked upon a series dealing with language, Per purificare le parole, a theme he would investigate through the early 1980s. In 1970, Zorio graduated from the Accademia and, in 1971, he began teaching at the Liceo Artistico, Turin.
Zorio’s work emphasizes process and alchemy, exploring transformative natural phenomena like evaporation or oxidation and the effects wrought upon materials by these chemical interventions. He has always been preoccupied with the idea of energy. This focus led him to examine the properties of electricity, incorporating a lamp or incandescent tubes in some pieces. In other works, he adopted star and javelin forms—both archetypal constructs intimating energy. Zorio frequently employs fragile materials in his sculpture, creating giant stars from terra-cotta or perching Pyrex alembics containing liquid solutions upon slender steel javelins. He tends to suspend or balance these components in purposely precarious installations, suggesting the tensions and transience of the physical realm.
In 1976, the Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne, recognized Zorio with a significant exhibition. A mid-career retrospective of the artist’s work followed at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, in 1979. A monograph on Zorio was published in Italian in 1982. By 1984, he had started another series utilizing a primeval form, that of the canoe, which he made from assorted materials such as pitch or steel. The canoe, along with the star and javelin, became a recurrent motif in Zorio’s oeuvre. In 1985, the Kunstverein, Stuttgart, organized a major retrospective, which traveled in 1986 to the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris; Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva; and Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven. In 1992, an exhibition took place at the Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy. Zorio lives in Turin.Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and in 1985 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. In the 1980s, Turrell created dark pieces in which light is reduced to barely perceptible levels. The artist lives in Flagstaff, Arizona, and Inishkeame, Ireland.
Solo and group exhibitions (selected):
2017
Centro Luigi Pecci, Prato
GNAM, Roma
Castello di Rivoli, Torino
2016
The Museum of Modern Art, Oslo
2013
MoMA, New York
2011
MADRE, Napoli
MAXXI, Roma
2010
MACRO, Roma
2009
Institut d’Art Modern, Valencia
MAMbo, Bologna
Palazzo Frissioni, Bergamo
2008
Palazzo Grassi, Venezia
2007
Castello di Rivoli, Torino
2006
Biennale di Sculture di Carrara, Carrara
Palazzo Grassi, Venezia
Poggiali e Forconi, Firenze
2005
Galleria Centro Steccata, Parma
CAMeC - Centro de Arte Moderna e Contemporanea della Spezia, La Spezia
Galleria Cardi, Milano
ZKM | Museum für Neue Kunst & Medienmuseum, Karlsruhe
Galleria Giorgio Persano, Torino
Palazzo Cavour, Torino
Centro per l´Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato
MART-Museo dArte Moderna e Contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto, Rovereto
Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro, Milano
recommended Walter Storms Galerie, Monaco di Baviera
Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepubilk Deutschland, Bonn
Rizziero Arte, Pescara
Galleria dArte 2000 & NOVECENTO, Reggio Emilia
Galleria Nazionale dArte Moderna, Roma
Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein, Vaduz
2004
Galleria Il Ponte, Firenze
Galleria Fumagalli Bergamo, Bergamo
Museum für angewandte Kunst (MAK), Vienna
Galleria Biasutti Giampiero, Torino
Villa Croce Museo dArte Contemporanea, Genova
Galleria dArte 2000 & NOVECENTO, Reggio Emilia
Stiftung Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum • Center of International Sculpture, Duisburg
Kröller-Müller museum, Otterlo
Artiscope, Bruxelles
2003
Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf
Baronian_Francey, Bruxelles
S.M.A.K. - Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Gent
Alfonso Artiaco, Napoli
CAM - Chelsea Art Museum, New York, NY
Galleria Biasutti Giampiero, Torino
Baronian_Francey, Bruxelles
2002
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN
Museum of Contemporary Art Sydney, Sydney, NSW
Centro per l´Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato
The Centre for Contemporary Art, Varsavia
MOCA THE GEFFEN CONTEMPORARY, Los Angeles, CA
Artiscope, Bruxelles
Museu Serralves - Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto
2001
Gruppenausstellung – Lichtkunstobjekte, maerzgalerie, Lipsia
Galleria Civica d´Arte Moderna e Contemporanea - Torino, Torino
Dia Art Foundation: Chelsea, New York, NY
Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerna
Tate Modern, Londra (Inghilterra)
2000
Galleria Giorgio Persano, Torino
MUSEO D`ARTE CONTEMPORANEA CASTELLO DI RIVOLI, Torino
Galerie Guy Bärtschi, Ginevra
1999
MUSEO D`ARTE CONTEMPORANEA CASTELLO DI RIVOLI, Torino
Galleria Comunale dArte Moderna e Contemporanea - Roma, Roma
1998
S.M.A.K. - Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, Gent
