Giovanni Brambilla presents “Visioni di Crespi d’Adda” as part of the program for the “Produzioni Ininterrotte” Festival of Labor Literature
According to Brambilla, every exhibition must stem from a solid sense of coherence and a cultural project oriented toward utopia—understood, in the tradition of Thomas More and Le Corbusier, as a commitment to universal ideals of justice, peace, and the building of the future—far removed from the mere pursuit of originality for its own sake. In shaping the pictorial atmosphere to portray Crespi d’Adda, a place to which he is deeply attached, the artist drew on two essential references: on the one hand, the realism of Edward Hopper, from whom he drew urban and industrial vistas while strictly excluding the human figure, in keeping with his own artistic vision; on the other, the visual memory of the German artists’ colony in Worpswede, whose idyllic landscape evokes the atmosphere and post-industrial history of the Lombardian working-class village.
Giovanni Brambilla
The landscapes and still lifes of Giovanni Brambilla (Trezzo sull’Adda, 1943) have long transcended national and European boundaries. Exhibitions in the capital and in Japan’s major cities have garnered glowing acclaim from audiences and critics alike, who are captivated by the Lombard figurative tradition, of which Brambilla is one of the last refined exponents. Giovanni Brambilla has been painting since 1959. In the 1960s, he joined the “Artisti Indipendenti A. Bucci” group in Milan, attended drawing courses at the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo, and deepened his knowledge of etching techniques in Bergamo, Milan, and Tokyo. His artistic training was shaped by 20th-century Lombard figurative art, an influence that characterizes his works as the foundation for a constant exploration of the “atmosphere” of landscapes and the symbolism of still lifes. Among Brambilla’s major works are four large stained-glass windows for the Church of the Holy Trinity in Milan and those in the “Last Supper” hall of the new Parish Center in Trezzo.
Since 1967, he has held solo exhibitions in Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, Canada, France, and Japan.
