Franco Assetto
Encyclopedia
Franco Assetto was an Italian
sculptor and painter
, who lived in the United States
for much of his life.
His early work anticipated Pop Art
.. At the Bread Show at the Galleria della Bussola, Turin, in 1952 he presented the public with a number of Turin loaves cast in bronze
, eight years before Jasper Johns
thought of casting his two famous beer cans.
He was one of a handful of artists who, like Fontana, Capogrossi, Burri and few others, started again from zero acknowledging the informal experience as the essential condition for the artistic quest in which Form is given as the primary possibility to build the artists own existential experience.
When experiments with informalism reached saturation point he developed the Baroque Autre.
He later became interested in the artistic potential of water and designed a number of public fountains. There is a museum of his work in Frontino, Italy, where one of his fountains can be seen.
Other public art includes the Via Crucis in Saint Basil's Catholic Church, Los Angeles, and The Big Candy in MacArthur Park
, Los Angeles.
For some 20 years he had been married to the prominent U.S. West Coast music patron Betty Freeman
; composer Lou Harrison
wrote for the two a "Serenade for Betty Freeman and Franco Assetto".
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
sculptor and painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, who lived in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
for much of his life.
His early work anticipated Pop Art
Pop art
Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art...
.. At the Bread Show at the Galleria della Bussola, Turin, in 1952 he presented the public with a number of Turin loaves cast in bronze
Bronze
Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...
, eight years before Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns
Jasper Johns, Jr. is an American contemporary artist who works primarily in painting and printmaking.-Life:Born in Augusta, Georgia, Jasper Johns spent his early life in Allendale, South Carolina with his paternal grandparents after his parents' marriage failed...
thought of casting his two famous beer cans.
He was one of a handful of artists who, like Fontana, Capogrossi, Burri and few others, started again from zero acknowledging the informal experience as the essential condition for the artistic quest in which Form is given as the primary possibility to build the artists own existential experience.
When experiments with informalism reached saturation point he developed the Baroque Autre.
He later became interested in the artistic potential of water and designed a number of public fountains. There is a museum of his work in Frontino, Italy, where one of his fountains can be seen.
Other public art includes the Via Crucis in Saint Basil's Catholic Church, Los Angeles, and The Big Candy in MacArthur Park
MacArthur Park
MacArthur Park is a park in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, named after General Douglas MacArthur and designated city of Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument #100.- Geography :...
, Los Angeles.
For some 20 years he had been married to the prominent U.S. West Coast music patron Betty Freeman
Betty Freeman
Betty Wishnick-Freeman was an American philanthropist and photographer. Freeman was born in Chicago, Illinois. At the age of three she moved with her parents and two brothers to Brooklyn, attending high school in New Rochelle, New York...
; composer Lou Harrison
Lou Harrison
Lou Silver Harrison was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison...
wrote for the two a "Serenade for Betty Freeman and Franco Assetto".