Nunzio
Nunzio Di Stefano, alias Nunzio, born in 1954 in Cagnano Amiterno in the province of L’Aquila, is one of the founders of the so-called Scuola di San Lorenzo, one of the artistic currents which moved away from Transavanguardia around the mid-‘eighties. While not contradicting the interest of this movement in handicraft and materials, it advocated a more direct exploration of the fundamentals of art, abandoning the quotationism of which Transavanguardia had been a protagonist. The group (made up, besides Nunzio, of Domenico Bianchi, Bruno Ceccobelli, Gianni Dessì, Giuseppe Gallo, Piero Pizzi Cannella and Marco Tirelli) came into being because the artists all found themselves working in the shared space of the former Pastificio Cerere in Via degli Ausoni in Rome, and it was precisely there that it had its first public presentation, with the exhibition Ateliers, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva in 1984.
Nunzio is fundamentally a sculptor, although he has never disdained two-dimensionality. During his career he has mainly pursued an investigation of space and colour, making the latter a consubstantial part of the work. One of his most typical aspects is his burning of wood, creating an intense blackness which is intrinsic to the material.
Despite having participated in international shows, including various presences at the Venice Biennale, Nunzio is an artist who is not very present on the market. Few works come out of his studio each year due to his characteristic rigorous control of his work. This means that the prices remain significant, though still affordable, normally between 20,000 and 60,000 euros.
