FRANCO BOVANI

Bovani was born on 8 January 1949 in Pistoia. He graduated as an art teacher from the Art Institute of Pistoia in July 1967. For a few years, he worked as a ceramist in the city’s factories. During this period, he used oil paints to paint canvases of figurative and landscape themes. He soon left his job to devote himself entirely to painting, often meeting up with such Pistoiese artists as Umberto Buscioni, Gianni Ruffi, and especially Roberto Barni. In March 1975, Bovani presented his series of “Mappe geografiche” at the Vannucci Gallery in Pistoia. In April 1976, he was introduced at the Galleria del Naviglio where he met Renato Cardazzo, with whom he began to work. This partnership resulted in “Traslazione”, a personal exhibition held in November 1977. In the years following, he had many more exhibitions, including in Basel and Bologna. In 1980, he appeared at the Venice Biennale with “Nel tempo col tempo”, a series of small-format canvases in which fragile botanical elements or small plaster archaeological finds are detached from the veiled, undefined backgrounds. In the 1980s, during an intense experimental period, he began the "Sinopie" series and devoted himself to such other great works as “Giocando nella notte”, “Dopo la battaglia”, and “Notte d’agosto”. In spring 1988, he painted large flowers, again using natural pigments and wax, examining all the formal and expressive possibilities of his new and poetic theme: "Flowers". 

He died prematurely from a serious illness on 21 November 1988 in Pistoia.