Valerio Berruti was born in 1977 in Alba, in the region of Piedmont, where he still lives and works. After graduating from the Faculty of Fine Arts of Turin University with a degree in art criticism, in 1995 he purchased and restored a deconsecrated seventeenth-century church in Verduno for use as his studio. The artist prefers to use simple materials, employing the age-old technique of fresco painting on untreated jute canvas, sculpture, particularly in concrete or steel, and video animation to create simple images inspired by the suspended world of childhood, the time in our lives when we are all the same and everything has yet to happen. We can all recognise ourselves in his children, from whom he removes all features that make them recognisable, so that viewers project themselves into the image they see, with their own past and their own intimacy.
In 2009 Berruti was the youngest artist to participate in the 53rd Biennale in Venice, presenting a video animation composed of more than 600 frescoed drawings with music by Paolo Conte. He has also worked on important partnerships with Ryuichi Sakamoto in Japan and with Gianmaria Testa.
In 2018 Berruti began working on an animated short film co-produced with Sky Arte, La giostra di Nina, with a soundtrack by Ludovico Einaudi. The big carousel was exhibited in the Church of San Domenico in Alba in the autumn of 2018, at MAXXI in Rome in 2019, and then in the Galleria Grande at the Reggia di Venaria near Turin, while the short film premiered at the Rome Film Festival and participated in the world’s most important film festivals. On September 29, 2022, an impressive 12-meter steel sculpture depicting the minimal outline of a girl placed on an overflow fountain was inaugurated in Piazza Michele Ferrero in Alba. More recently, on May 1, 2024, the artist inaugurated his first solo exhibition in China at the Teagan Space in Youyi Bay, Beijing district.
2024
“Valerio Berruti. Circulating Sketch”, Teagan Space, Youyi Bay, Beijing, China
2021
Amai, Art Square – Felissimo Museum, Kobe, Japan
2020
The Carousel (La giostra di Nina), Galleria Grande – Reggia di Venaria, Venaria Reale, Italy
Tracce, Marcorossi artecontemporanea, Milan, Turin and Verona, Italy
2019
La giostra di Nina, MAXXI – Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome, Italy
Frammenti, Castello, Monticello d’Alba, Italy
Tracce, Marcorossi artecontemporanea, Pietrasanta, Italy
2018
La giostra di Nina, Chiesa di San Domenico, Alba, Italy
Endless Love, Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Los Angeles, USA
Just Kids, Chiostro di Palazzo d’Accursio, Bologna, Italy
2017
Out of Your Own, Al Blu di Prussia, Naples, Italy
Il Sentiero, Marcorossi artecontemporanea, Milan, Italy
2016
Looking for the Magic, Spazio Espositivo Ersel, Turin, Italy
Paradise Lost, Marcorossi artecontemporanea, Milan and Verona, Italy
2015
Nina nel Verde, Parco Hotel Byron, Forte dei Marmi, Italy
2014
Così sia, Marcorossi artecontemporanea, Pietrasanta, Italy
2013
Dove il cielo s’attacca alla collina, Cantina Bricco Rocche, Castiglione Falletto, Italy
Il momento in cui i nostri occhi si incontrano, Spazio NonostanteMarras, Milan, Italy
Almost Blue, Spazio Helutrans, Singapore
2012
Udaka, Nirox Foundation, Johannesburg, South Africa
2011
Maddalena, Salon Blanco, Havana, Cuba
La rivoluzione terrestre, Chiesa di San Domenico, Alba, Italy
Almost Queen, Marcorossi artecontemporanea, Milan and Verona, Italy
There is Too Much Light Not to Believe in Light, The Belgrade City Museum, Belgrade, Serbia
Kizuna, Pola Museum Annex, Ginza, Japan
2010
Una Sola Moltitudine, Fondazione Stelline, Milan, Italy
I Wish I Was Special, Galleria Ermanno Tedeschi, Turin and Rome, Italy
2009
E più non dimandare, Galleria Civica, Modena, Italy
2008
Magnificat, Keumsan Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
2007
E più non dimandare, Il Fondaco, Bra, Italy
2006
Se ci fosse la luna, Palazzo Bricherasio, Turin, Italy
2005
Golgota, Esso Gallery, New York, USA
Primary, Galleria Ermanno Tedeschi, Turin, Italy
Ho meritato il tuo castigo, Galleria Officina 14, Rome, Italy
Senza più pensare, Galleria 41 Artecontemporanea, Turin, Italy
2004
Naufragar m’è dolce…, Museo dello Zucchero, Nizza Monferrato, Italy
Vocazione, Chiesa di Sant’Agostino, Pietrasanta, Italy
2003
Familienwertes, Galerie Markus Nohn, Frankfurt, Germany
Family Values, Galleria Spirale Arte, Verona, Italy
Brothers, Galleria Arte & Altro, Gattinara, Italy
Summertime, Galleria 41 Artecontemporanea, Turin, Italy
2002
Sacre rappresentazioni, Galleria Spirale Arte, Milan and Pietrasanta, Italy
2001
Saints Kids, Galleria Art & Arts, Turin, Italy
2024
Arte Fiera, Bologna, Italy
2023
Sensing painting. Opere dalla collezione d’arte della Fondazione CRC, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy
Identità mutevole, Marcorossi artecontemporanea, Milan, Turin, Verona, Italy
2022
Inquattro, Marcorossi artecontemporanea, Milan, Pietrasanta, Turin, Verona, Italy
2021
Além de 2020, Arte italiana na pandemia, MAC – Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Sao Paulo, Brazil
2018
Polis, Palazzo d’Accursio, Bologna, Italy
2016
Le spine della complessità. Arte e artisti tra globale e locale, GrandArte 2016/2017, Complesso Monumentale di San Francesco, Cuneo, Italy
Chissà se lo sai… Gli artisti di Lucio, Otto Gallery, Bologna, Italy
2015
Mare Motus, Castello di Lipari, Lipari, Italy
Holy MisterY, Chiesa del Santo Volto, Turin, Italy
2014
Biennale Italia-Cina, Bei Zhou, Beijing, China
Resilienze 2.0, Palazzo Saluzzo, Turin, Italy
The Intuitionist, The Drawing Center, New York, USA
2013
Humang Among Aliens, Helutrans Artspace, Singapore
2012
Biennale Italia-Cina, Reggia di Monza, Monza, Italy
2011
Cabinet de dessins, Villa la Versiliana, Pietrasanta, Italy
2010
Oltre il mito. Cavour nell’arte contemporanea, Castello Cavour, Santena, Italy
2009
53a Biennale di Venezia, Padiglione Italia, Venice, Italy
Campolungo. L’orizzonte sensibile del Contemporaneo, Complesso del Vittoriano, Rome, Italy
The Sublime Gaiety of Art, Kunstpfad Bischofstrasse, Linz, Austria
Che cos’è la scultura moderna, Spirale Arte, Pietrasanta, Italy
2008
XIII Biennale d’arte sacra contemporanea, Museo Staurós, Isola del Gran Sasso d’Italia, Italy
Biennale dei giovani artisti Europei e del Mediterraneo, Bari, Italy
Detour, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
2007
Micro-narratives, 48th October Salon, Belgrade, Serbia
The Big Show, Silas Murder Gallery, New York, USA
Art First, Facciata Palazzo Re Enzo, Bologna, Italy
2006
Crave, Row Space, London, UK
Giardino. Luoghi della piccola realtà, PAN – Palazzo delle arti, Naples, Italy
Uniforms and Costumes, Herzliya Museum of Contemporary Art, Herzliya, Israel
Cabinet des Dessins, Musée d’Art Moderne de Saint-Étienne, Saint-Étienne, France
2005
Deck the Wall, Exit art, New York, USA
Quadriennale di Monza, Monza, Italy
2004
Dal Profondo, Kästrich, Mainz, Germany
La via del sale, Pieve di Santa Maria, Cortemilia, Italy
Quotidiana 04, Museo Civico del Santo, Padova, Italy
Made in Italy, Limn Gallery, San Francisco, USA
Quadriennale di Roma. Anteprima, Società Promotrice delle Belle Arti, Turin, Italy
2003
Gemine Muse, Museo di Arte Antica, Turin, Italy
Extraños niños, 3 Punts Galeria, Barcelona, Spain
2002
Infanzie, Battistero di San Pietro, Asti, Italy
2000
Le ombre della memoria, En Plain Air, Pinerolo, Italy
Meno trenta, Associazione Culturale Marcovaldo, Caraglio, Italy
Maze Gallery, Turin, Italy
2017
Erata Motion Pictures – International Festival of Shorts about Paintings, Finalist, San Pietroburgo, Russia
Los Angeles Cinefest, 2nd Prize, Los Angeles, USA
2014
15th Cairo Prize, Finalist, Palazzo della Permanente, Milan, Italy
2012
Luci d’Artista Prize, Awarded with the installation “Ancora una volta”, Turin, Italy
2011
Nirox Foundation Residency, Johannesburg, South Africa
2010
Youkobo Art Space Residency, Tokyo, Japan
2009
Area Progetto, Galleria Civica, Modena, Italy
2007
Artists Residency Program, Dena Foundation for Contemporary Art, Paris, France
2006
Workshop with Stefano Arienti, Fondazione Spinola Banna, Poirino, Italy
2005
Residency Program, I.S.C.P. International Studio & Curatorial Program, New York, NY, USA
2004
Pagine Bianche d’Autore Prize, Winner for the cover of regional telephone directory in Piedmont, Italy
Premio Celeste, 1st Prize, Italy
2003
4th Cairo Prize, Finalist, Palazzo della Permanente, Milan, Italy
Fresco and Salty Award, Amfilochia, Greece
Pietrasanta, 26 july - 22 August 2024
Milan, 23 May - 3 August 2024
Verona, 18 May – 3 August 2024
Turin, 16 May - 3 August 2024
