Agostino Bonalumi was born in Vimercate Italy in 1935, and he has been a leading figure in the Post-World War II Italian Avant-Garde. Seeking an alternative to the gestural abstraction of Informal painting that predominated much of the Fifties European art world, he achieved his breakthrough in 1959 with his discovery of the "extroflection." Specially outfitting his stretcher bars with dynamically shaped relief elements that pressed against the back of the taut canvas, Bonalumi created paintings that appeared animated by a mysterious presence lurking beneath their surface. While using the traditional tools of painting, he dispensed with illusionism, conceiving real three-dimensional volumes that abandoned the picture plane for the real space of the viewer. Joining Bonalumi in his reinvention of painting were his friends, Piero Manzoni and Enrico Castellani. Inspired by Lucio Fontana's radical conception of space in his sliced and punctured canvases, they devised practices that emphasized the physical presence and forthright materiality of the work of art. Together, these three artists founded the short-lived but influential Azimut gallery in Milan, as well as its two-issue in-house journal, Azimuth. Operating out of the sub-basement of a furniture store, the gallery exhibited some of the most innovative art of its time and, along with its publication, was instrumental in propagating international currents of the Avant-Garde, such as the "German Zero" group, the French "Nouveau Réalistes", and the American Neo-Dada art of Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg. The extroflection has proven to be a highly adaptable innovation that has resulted in a remarkably diverse body of work. Demonstrating a sculptor's capacity for inventive three-dimensional forms, Bonalumi has enlivened his canvases with bulging pneumatic volumes, undulating linear elements, geometric patterning, and mysterious involutions. At various points in his career, he has brought his work fully into three dimensions, creating sculptures as well as immersive environments of extroflected architecture. Unlike his contemporaries, Castellani and Manzoni, Bonalumi has embraced colour, often working with saturated jewel tones that captivate the eye. In 2004 he held several exhibitions in Germany and Italy; between 2005 and 2007 he made many appearances on many personal and group exhibitions in various cities of Italy including Venice, Milan, Belluno. In 2008 he exhibited in Rome for an exhibition of his recent works, while in 2009 he was more in Milan. In 2010 he also exhibited in Naples, and between 2011 and 2012 he remained much in Milan. For the latest exhibitions, there are Venice and Castell'arquato.

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