GIORGIO LAVERI

Giorgio Laveri was born in Savona, Italy where he currently lives and works. He first studies television direction, then he collaborates with Salvatore Passarella to paint a murals series on the condition of the Chilean people after the coup of 1972. After his first solo exhibition in Genoa in 1973, Laveri works on film and theatre productions and registers at the Albisola School of Ceramics. His artistic research makes him experience interactions between sculptures and theatre with performances in which actors and ceramics interact on stage in a luminous choreography (“Delitto in Cineceramica”) presented in preview at the Theatre Festival of Borgio Verezzi in the late eighties.

The practice of clay sculpture is important for the Mediterranean people who find their roots in earth. Laveri dilates daily objects like pens, pencil sharpeners or clothespins beyond all measure giving them a new meaning and transforming them into icons in enamelled ceramic. He gets his inspiration as well from the glamour imaginary of films making, sculpting lipsticks, guns, and photographic rolls to fix the celluloid world on ceramics, with the lightness of films but the weight of the material. His artworks can be understood as symbols of consumption of the Italian culture such as the Moka coffee maker, or the cherry representing the famous brand Fabbri.

For Laveri, the artist of today must keep a chronicle of our times and has a duty to represent reality. He is mixing vintage such as old-fashioned objects to revival an ancient charm in a poetical conception. His sculptures are an acceptance of the past with a projection on the future, an ethical vision that could be understood as cultural activism.

Giorgio Laveri distinguishes himself in different fields, he writes 11 plays and 12 short films while creating appealing sculptures. He wins with his movie “Scommessa di un Matrimonio” the Critics’ Award of the Cinema in casa Festival in Rome. In 1993, he joins the French Art Mobil group with whom he plans multiple events in France and Italy. He also signs the first part of the Manifesto of the Movimento Artistico Mediterraneo with Patrick Moya and Veronique Champollion. In 1998, he realizes two works for merchandising in association with the exhibition “Omaggio a Picasso” at the Palazzo Grassi in Venice. Through his career, Laveri creates a lot of events and performances and his artworks were exhibited in solo and group shows in different gallery in Genoa, Milan, Savona, Amsterdam, Stockholm, St. Paul de Vence, Bordeaux, Nice, Paris, Turin and Hong Kong. He takes part of fairs such as Arte Fiera Bologna (2008) or the Miami Art fair (2013). He was also invited to present a large sculpture at the closing exhibition of the 54th Biennale in Venice. Recently, he creates a performance in partnership with the Museum of the Human Rights of Santiago de Chile with local artists and musicians.