Sosno (bio)


 

Biografia
Sosno

Famoso in particolare per aver realizzato opere monumentali, quali la grande biblioteca municipale di Nizza, prima scultura ‘abitata’, la “Tête carrée”, 28 metri di altezza in alluminio. 

Nato nel 1937, trascorre la sua infanzia in Costa Azzurra. Diventa dapprima foto-reporter e segue i grandi conflitti degli anni '60 come quelli dell'Irlanda, del Bangladesh e del Biafra. Molto segnato dagli eventi, decide di esprimere la sua sofferta esperienza tramite le arti plastiche.

Nel 1957, a seguito dell’incontro con Arman, César e Yves Klein, SASHA SOSNO entra nel gruppo del “Nouveau Réalisme”, teorizzato da Pierre Restany. Sosno si identifica all’interno di questo movimento per la sua idea di ‘obliterazione’, chiudere per meglio vedere e meglio capire. Attuale più che mai in questo momento storico in cui viviamo, bersagliati da informazioni immagini e suoni stridenti, è impellente il bisogno di ritrovarci nell’isolamento e nel silenzio.

Artista concettuale, Sosno definisce l’ "annullamento" come suo linguaggio personale, mascherando, con dei "pieni" o dei "vuoti", parti delle sue opere per lasciare allo spettatore la possibilità di immaginare "l'assenza".
Impresa ardua per uno scultore rappresentare il vuoto, la ‘non presenza’: egli la ottiene con razionalità e rigore, elaborando gli archetipi dell’arte classica, dai greci a Michelangelo, sia per sfruttare la memoria collettiva che per ricordare come il nostro quotidiano sia radicato sul modello e sul pensiero classico occidentale. Ecco dunque che una colonna dorica si delinea ritagliata in una rigorosa lastra di bronzo o di marmo, o la testa del Davide è chiusa in un impenetrabile cubo (la famosa serie delle ‘Tete carré’) o un rigido rettangolo ‘scava’ la perfezione del corpo della Venere o di Apollo, creando quel ‘vuoto interno’ che diventa luogo di riflessione.



È un artista di caratura internazionale ed ha esposto in tutto il mondo, rappresentato dalle gallerie più prestigiose.

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biography
Sosno

1937: Alexandre Joseph Sosnowsky, known as Sacha Sosno, was born in Marseilles. His father was Estonian and his mother came from Nice. Spends his childhood in Riga (Latvia). In 1948, meets Matisse in Nice. 

1956: Meets Yves Klein and Arman in Nice. When seeing Klein’s monochromes, burns almost all the ‘abstract’ works he was painting then. 

1958: Studies at Sciences-Po (School of Political Sciences in Paris) and at the School of Oriental Languages. Follows courses at the Law Faculty and at the Cinema Institute at the Sorbonne.

1961: Returns to Nice and launches a magazine (Sud Communications) in whose first issue he publishes the first theoretical article on the School of Nice. Beginning of a long friendship with Martial Raysse. Makes several programmes on the cinema for Tele Monte-Carlo.

1962: Military service in Toulouse, which he ends as an archeologist after he discovered the largest site of GalloRoman tombs in collaboration with the C.N.R.S. (the National Centre of Scientific Research).

1963-1966: Works in the press and in printing and becomes the assistant of Jean Sainteny.

1967-1969: As an author and a columnist, works for several TV programmes, such as Daisy de Gallard’s Din Dan Don, with Guy Seligman and Rémy Grunbach. As a press photographer, becomes a war correspondent in Ireland, Bangladesh and Biafra, and publishes a book, Biafra, proximity of Death, continuity of Life, with a preface by Nobel Prize Professor Wolff and Pierre Emmanuel of the Academie Française. Returns to painting with the first “obliterated” photographs. The concept of obliteration (“To hide in order to see better”) will then be developed in sculpture and architecture.

1969: Lives in Montparnasse and takes part in the beginnings of video art and sociological art with, among others, Bernard Teyssèdre, Gina Pane, Juan Rabascall, Jean-Paul Thenot, Alain Fisher, Fred Forest, Serge Oldenbourg, Nil Yalter and Muntados. Organizes performances and paints on sensitized photographic canvas. Sef-portrait - Photo : André Villers Edition : Eric Linnard - 1991 SOSNO biography (11-2007) 

1970: Writes the libretto of Astronomy, a ballet composed for the television by Guy Job to a music by René Henry.

1974: Sells his atelier in Paris and buys a sailing boat in Holland and crosses the Atlantic on the Go Westwith Mascha, his companion. Both travel for three years. Exhibits in Porto and Caracas. Makes his first drawing for sculpture.

1977: Returns to France and settles in Nice where he makes his first sculpture: obliterated cars.

1979: Visits India where he makes bronzes at the Lalit Kala Academi, near New Delhi.

1980: Becomes adviser to several couturiers and makes designs for textile.

1983: Important one-man show at the Musée des Beaux-Arts Jules Chéret in Nice. 1985: Settles in a loft in Tribeca, New York and has his first one-man show in the U.S. at the Aldrich Museum in Richfield, Connecticut. The Galerie Beaubourg in Paris commissions one of his works in 1986.

1987: First collaboration with the Gallery Marisa del Re in New York.

1986-1988: Develops several projects which associate sculpture and architecture, like Hotel Elysée Palace with architect Georges Margarita, a 28-meter high work, including a 19-meter high bronze and 420 tons of granite. Meets the philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas, an encounter at the origin of a book by Françoise Armengaud, De l’oblitération(Paris, Editions de la Difference).

1989-1990: Four one-man shows in the U.S.: Miami, West Palm Beach, Sarasota and Tampa.

1991: Moves his atelier to the hills above Nive, the “colline de Bellet”, plants vine and olive trees. Collaborates to several architectural projects and works with Chicago City Council for an inhabited sculpture in homage to Frank Lloyd Wright.

1993-1999: Travels to Japan, Korea, Canada and Greece. 1998: Elected at the Académie interdisciplinaire des sciences in Paris.

1999: Opens an atelier in Monaco.

2000: Starts to work on The Square Head, a 26-meter high monumental sculpture due to be the Central Library offices in Nice, with architects Yves Bayard and Francis Chapuis, financed by the Ministry of Culture, the Regional Council, the County Council and the City of Nice.

Participates in the group exhibition “The Artists of the Old Harbour” at the Marlborough Gallery in Monaco with Arman, Bottero, Cane and Folon. Resumes his submarine investigations where he had first deep-sea dived and is convinced he has discovered a very important archeological site, an antique Greco-Roman harbour. He is supported by academicians, among whom the geologist René Dars, oceanographist Professor Jean Joubert who lends him a boat to facilitate his research. Now, inspection and checking of all data already obtained, is under way, with the support of the Department of Submarine Archeological Research in Marseilles.

Participates in the group exhibition at the Pompidou Centre, entitled Objets de l’art, artde l’objet, as well as in the activities of the international Centre of Contemporary Art at Carros with a piece, Le Paradoxe d’Alexandre. Participates in about 16 group exhibitions and has six oneman shows in museums.

2001: Starts on a new series of obliterations based on the appropriation/obliteration of theatrical sets. Works on the vast surface of painted canvases due to be destroyed, representing landscapes, forests...Stage curtains are obliterated with huge numbers, geometrical forms, rectangles of bright colours, red, yellow and black. The title of the series is relevant: Operas. Beginning of the installation of the aluminium structure of The Square Head. One-man exhibition of Sosno’s works at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nice, which opens on November 5. 
One-man exhibition at the Marlborough Gallery in Monaco (December 2001 - January 2002).

2002: Inauguration of The Square Headin presence of the Minister of Culture. The first monumental inhabited sculpture in the world, the first construction entirely in aluminium, the first building shaped and raised thanks to naval techniques.

2003: Important exhibition at the Galerie Guy Pieters in SaintPaul de Vence.

2004: Exhibits at Saint Petersburg (Russia) a series of small bronzes and architectural projects, and installs a monumental Venus in Giubasco (Switzerland, Foundation Giancarlo Olgiatti).

2005: Invited in Beijing by the President of the Chinese Academy of Fine Arts, to build a monumental sculpture in the city centre, and study several art projects in relation to the 2008 Olympic Games. 

(Hommage to Romain Rolland - Pierre - 16 m. height Technical High School, Bagnieux - 1999 Architect : Yves Bayard ) 

2006: Visits China again. Selected for the Symposium of Olympic sculptures due to be exhibited in twelve museums before the beginning of the games. Commissioned for a monumental unit at the centre of Beijing (CBD project), a flaghship building which will have offices, luxury shops, sport structures and entertainment places. In May, is commissioned for a giant Poseidonin steel outside Villa Kappa in Nice by the Meunier group (Architect: M. Orselli). 

2007: A set of five sculped columns for the Préfecture of Nice roundabout, order from the General Council of the Alpes Maritimes - Marble and granite Also,a horse in bronze, 3,25m. height, order from the Horseracing Society of Cagnes sur Mer, entitled : "There is no longer any obstacle...", entrance to the horse racing course. November 2007 : Edition of the Catalogue raisonné of Sosno's works, "Towards a complete edition...", text by Françoise Armengaud, ed. Foundhaus-sit, Monaco. 


Honours :

 Distinction by American Legion : 1991: Gold Medal of Merit 1996: Medal of valor 2001: Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres. 2005 : Commandeur du Mérite Culturel in Monaco 

 

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