Bruno Del Bianco - contemporary painter

Bruno Del Bianco was born on 5 April 1944 in Vorno, a small town located in the hills between Lucca and Pisa. It is self-taught and against all expectations of the family, after having abandoned the Collegio Cavanis, in 1968 he moved to Florence where he lived as a street painter. In the wake of youth protests, anti-prohibitionism, rebellion against any form of dogmatism, the Tuscan capital seems for him the place to take his own path and realize the dream of devoting himself to art. These were years in which Del Bianco experimented with what modernity proposes: he meets the world of esotericism, he is interested in alchemical studies, oriental philosophy and the whole underground culture. In Florence, he met Suzanne Foster, a young American woman who strongly marked her life and her artistic career. In 1972 they moved to Lucca and started the most important exhibition phase of the artist. The city welcomes its production of oils, watercolors, blood and pencils with great success of criticism and sales. In a few years there were numerous personal and collective exhibitions that gave the painter visibility and success.

Del Bianco is an eclectic personality, full of contemporary ideas and completely immersed in the youthful reality of his time. The strong mystical and esoteric interests are combined with Indian Buddhism, the art of Florentine renaissance, Flemish painting, the Latin and Greek classical texts, up to the most contemporary informal American pictorial suggestions.

In 1976, when the relationship with Suzanne was over, there was a stop in its exhibition activity. It is however important to underline that the pictorial production does not however see interruptions; in fact, his life is always dedicated to art and painting, even with different variations and continuous evolutions.

With the 80’s there is a rebirth of the figure of Del Bianco: Bruno met Paola Masini, they became a couple and had a son, Lorenzo. In the same time, begins a new production and exhibition phase: the painter seems to have returned in a stable and lasting way on the local art scene. The new works in ink, as well as those in oil or pastel, have a great favor.

With the beginning of the 90’s, however, the situation changes again: The decision to permanently abandon the public art environment does not find clear and precise motivations, however framing itself in a general impoverishment of the local art market. Del Bianco continues to paint for the rest of his life, living in his hometown thanks to the sale of works for secondary channels without making official exhibitions.