Since 1967 Niele Toroni has utilized site specific environments and diverse surfaces to activate space and free painting from authorship and its prescribed, mimetic, representative conditions.
Niele Toroni was born in Muralto, Switzerland in 1937. Toroni belongs to the first generation of European minimalist painters active since the 1960s. His working method, sometimes considered radical, is as famous as it is unvarying. Since 1967, he has been applying, on every type of surface, imprints of a no. 50 paintbrush at regular intervals of 30 cm. He has utilized site specific environments and diverse surfaces to activate space and free painting from authorship and its prescribed, mimetic, representative conditions. The critical dimension of his work explores the meaning of pictorial activity, but, in contrast to the minimalist or conceptual approach, the gesture is essential.
In 2016 he was awarded the Rubenspreis; the Meret-Oppenheim Prize in 2012; the Wolfgang-Hahn Prize by the Museum Ludwig Cologne, 2003; and the French Vermeil Medal by the City of Paris in 2001.
His work has been exhibited widely including at: Musée d'Art Moderne de la ville de Paris, France, and the Swiss Institute, New York (both 2015); Bagnolo di Lonigo, Venice, Italy (2012); Foundation De 11 Lijnen, oudenburg, Belgium (2010); Museo Belle Arti, Lugano, Switzerland (2005); Museum Kurhaus Kleve, Germany (2002); L'école des Beaux-Arts de Nîmes, France (2001); CAPC Musée d'Art Contemporain de Bordeaux, France (1997); the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (1994); the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (1991); and the Renaissance Society, Chicago, Illinois (1990).
