Sergio Sarra

Sergio Sarra
Sergio Sarra
Sergio Sarra, Rome 2010
Born1961 (age 62–63)
Pescara, Italy
NationalityItalian
EducationAcademy of Fine Arts in Bologna
Known forpainting, sculpture, drawing
SpouseElisabetta Ruscitti
Websitewww.sergiosarra.it

Sergio Sarra (Pescara 1961) is an Italian artist and former basketball player.

In 1985, at the age of 24, he retired from playing competitively in order to study at the School of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, concluding in 1987. Sarra took part in the Biennial of Young Artists from Mediterranean Europe[1][2] (Barcelona – 1987), Venice Biennale[3] at the Corderie dell'Arsenale (1993) in Aperto '93,[4][5][6] at the Italian Pavilion (2011)[7][8] and in the Havana Biennial[9][10] (2000). Sarra curated the group exhibition Conversione di Saulo[11][12] at Palazzo Chigi Odescalchi (Rome – 2000) and exhibited at the Muzeul Naţional de Artă Contemporană (Bucharest – 2007) and the WAX Winkler Art Xperience (Budapest – 2007) in Altered States – Are you experienced?, group exhibition curated by Nicolas Bourriaud and Paolo Falcone, and at Baths of Diocletian (Rome – 2008) at Cose mai viste[13] curated by Achille Bonito Oliva. In 2019, Sarra exhibited at 4th Festival del Paesaggio[14] in Anacapri.

Other group exhibitions at: Palazzo Rondanini alla Rotonda (Rome – 1989), Palazzo della Permanente (Milan – 1991) and Espace Pierre Cardin (Paris – 1992), 34th Spoleto Festival of 2Worlds (Fonti del Clitunno – 1991), Fondazione Orestiadi (Gibellina – 1992), Palazzo delle Esposizioni (Rome – 1992, 1995), Fondazione Volume! (Rome – 2000).

Sarra has held solo exhibitions at public and private institutions including the Faculty of Architecture of University of Palermo (1998), the Micromuseum for Contemporary Art and Culture (Palermo – 2004), Circolo Filologico Milanese (Milan – 2008), the Conservatory of Santa Cecilia (Rome – 2013), the Ewha Womans University (Seoul – 2016), the Benedictine Abbey of Propezzano (Morro d'Oro – 2018), Mattatoio Museo d'Arte Contemporanea (Rome - 2019).

From the beginning of his artistic career, Sarra worked almost exclusively with painting, drawing and sculpture. In 1997, the art critic and curator Lorenzo Benedetti wrote:[15]

[...] In Sarra ci troviamo di fronte ad una intensa sinteticità dal punto di vista del processo formale a vantaggio di una maggiore concentrazione al dato concettuale… L'animale, i paesaggi e i volti vengono stilizzati fino al limite del riconoscibile [...]
([...] With Sarra we are faced with an intense conciseness from the perspective of the formal process in favour of a greater concentration on the conceptual factor… The animal, the landscapes and the faces are stylised to the limit of being recognisable [...])

— Lorenzo Benedetti, in "The Sacred of Fusi and the Sign of Sarra", [16] May 1997
  1. ^ Biennal of Young Artists from Mediterranean Europe (BJCEM).
  2. ^ Maragall, Pasqual; Truñó, Enric; Dijan, Jean-Michel; et al. Biennal'87, exhibition catalogue. Barcelona: Ajuntament de Barcelona, p. 211.
  3. ^ Giannattasio, Sandra (17 December 1992). "La Biennale di Bonito Oliva annuncia a Venezia le tendenze di fine secolo" (PDF). Avanti!. Vol. 97, no. 296. p. 18. Verzotti, Giorgio (October 1993). "Aperto '93 – The Better Biennale". Artforum. Vol. 32, no. 2. pp. 104–105.
  4. ^ Aperto '93 Emergency/Emergenza, 45th International Art Exhibition: Punti cardinali dell'arte, La Biennale di Venezia, Corderie dell'Arsenale, Venice, June – October 1993. Project: Achille Bonito Oliva; Curators: Helena Kontova (Coordinator), Francesco Bonami, Nicolas Bourriaud, Antonio D'Avossa, Jeffrey Deitch, Mike Hubert, Thomas Locher, Kong Chang'an (Lauk'ung Chan), Robert Nickas, Rosma Scuteri, Berta Sichel, Matthew Slovoter, Benjamin Weil.
  5. ^ Bonito Oliva, Achille; Jünger, Ernst; Perniola, Mario; et al. (1993). Punti cardinali dell'arte exhibition catalogue, Vol. I. Venice: Marsilio Editori s.p.a. pp. 303, 311. ISBN 88-208-0378-X. OCLC 832241900. OPAC IT\ICCU\RAV\0225285. Bonito Oliva, Achille; Kontova, Helena; Daney, Serge; et al. (1993). Aperto'93: Emergency/Emergenza: Flash Art International, exhibition catalogue. Milan: Giancarlo Politi Editore. pp. 217, 396–397. ISBN 8878160539. OCLC 832241900. OPAC IT\ICCU\LO1\0323441. Di Matteo, Gabriele; Silvestro, Franco; vedovamazzei (1993). "Ad Aperto novecentonovantatre si scambiarono per se stessi/The name of player playing the part". E IL TOPO magazine. No. 4. pp. 56, 81.
  6. ^ Sarra created an environment consisting of a long wooden platform in chipboard (1266 x 211 x 30 cm) with three paintings on the walls featuring: Iguane (1993), Paesaggio (1993), Autoritratto (1993).
  7. ^ Moro, Michela (8 June 2011). "Speciale Biennale di Venezia – 54° Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte". Cool Tour Arte, RAI5, rai.tv.
  8. ^ Sarra exposed Pettino, planimetria di Contrada Selva, 2011, acrylic paint on board, 220 x 170 cm.
  9. ^ Los últimos dibujos del siglo, curated by Zerynthia Associazione per l'Arte Contemporanea, Teatro Nacional de Cuba, Galleria René Portocarrero, 7th Havana Biennial, Universes in Universe, Havana, November 2000 – January 2001.
  10. ^ Zerynthia Associazione per l'Arte Contemporanea (2001). window onto venus – ventana hacia venus – finestra su venere, conference publication and exhibition catalogue. Milan: De Agostini Rizzoli Arte & Cultura. pp. 71, 79. OCLC 54086561. OPAC IT\ICCU\TO0\1065885.
  11. ^ Conversione di Saulo, ideated by Vittoria Odescalchi, Palazzo Chigi Odescalchi, Rome, 21–23 September 2000. Artists invited at the exhibition: Stefano Arienti, Vanessa Beecroft, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Shay Frisch Peri, Avish Khebrehzadeh, Wolfgang Tillmans, Grazia Toderi, Jane and Louise Wilson, Francesca Woodman.
  12. ^ Sarra, Sergio (2000). Conversione di Saulo, exhibition catalogue. Pescara: Edizioni Arte Nova. OCLC 80725368. OPAC IT\ICCU\TO0\0918995. Pratesi, Ludovico (29 August 2000). "Guardando Caravaggio". La Repubblica. No. 199. pp. XII–XIII. De Venere, Lia (17 September 2000). "Caravaggio a confronto con i nuovi realismi". Il Sole 24 Ore. No. 253. p. 34. Moro, Michela (October 2000). "Conversione di Saulo". Start, RaiSat Art. Di Las Plassas, Lorenzo (October 2000). "Conversione di Saulo". Imago, RAI3.
  13. ^ Bonito Oliva, Achille (2008). Cose mai viste 1, exhibition catalogue. Rome: The Road To Contemporary Art. p. 86. OCLC 908550606. OPAC IT\ICCU\RMS\2007233. Piccoli, Cloe (23 February 2008). "Cose mai viste: a Roma". La Repubblica delle Donne. No. 586. p. 124.
  14. ^ Giulia Ronchi, Ha aperto il Festival del Paesaggio 2019 a Capri e Anacapri. Le immagini dell'inaugurazione, 22 settembre 2019.
  15. ^ Benedetti, Lorenzo. Il sacro di Fusi e il segno di Sarra, critique of the exhibition Segno Senso Suono Sacro: installazioni di Mario Airò – Federico Fusi – Sergio Sarra, curated by Zerynthia Associazione per l'Arte Contemporanea, Serre di Rapolano (Siena), Centro Civico per l'Arte Contemporanea La Grancia and Musei Senesi, May – June 1997.
  16. ^ Benedetti, Lorenzo (1997). "The Sacred of Fusi and the Sign of Sarra". Critique of the exhibition. In Literature, sergiosarra.it. Zerynthia Associazione per l'Arte Contemporanea.