The Italian artist was born in Rome in 1925. After his art studies at the Brera Academy in Milan, his first solo exhibition is organised in 1947 in this same town.
Gianni Dova is one of the co-signers of the manifesto ‘Oltre Guernica’ and adheres to the spatial movement of Lucio Fontana in 1951 (with Beniamino Joppolo, Antonino Tullier, Cesare Peverelli). He participates, from this period, in numerous collective and international exhibition which represent the young Italian painter (the Venice Biennale, San Paulo, Rome, Milan, Paris, etc.) in which he is considered as one of the surest standards. His work is particularly noticed and Gianni Dova receives several important prizes. In 1960, he is part of the selection of the Guggenheim prize in New York.
His first canvases sometimes touch on surrealism; the artist associates the reminiscence of Picasso or of Ernst in other effects of modern material inspiration. Often undefined creatures pop up from the thick and darkly coloured paint. His painting evolves. An active participant in the spatial movement, his art is orientated towards abstraction without abandoning the ‘baroque spirit’ present in his first works. He opts, from this period, for an interpretation of tachisme to which he stays faithful. His work today acquires an existence that his true to himself.
Gianni Dova is one of the co-signers of the manifesto ‘
His first canvases sometimes touch on