Alessandro Gambetti è nato a Vicchio del mugello (Fi) nel 1959.Siè diplomato presso l'Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze (sezione pittura).

Dal 1999 è docente di ruolo di "arte e immagine" presso la scuola media statale di Montalcino e di San Quirico d'Orcia (Si). Nello stesso anno l'immagine di un suo dipinto viene scelto da un'agenzia di Amburgo (Germania) per una importante campagna pubblicitaria.

Nel 2001 è stato nominato accademico associato dell'Accademia Internazionale "Greci Marino" (Accademia del Verbano di Lettere, Scienze, e Arti, con sede a Vinzaglio-Novara).

Ha partecipato a diverse manifestazioni artistiche collettive fra cui "Arte Padova" a Padova,"Cromaticos"(rassegna di pittura nel Castello Estense di Ferrara),all'art-expo di New York (USA), e più recentemente,alla rassegna "Firenze Arte",galleria la Pergola di Firenze,finalista alla VII° edizione del "Premio Nazionale di Pittura e Scultura Città di novara,alla prima edizione della biennale di arte contemporanea "Riflessi Opposti"-ex chiesa di San carlo dei Barnabiti a Firenze, e organizzato alcune mostre personali a Firenze, Siena e provincia,ricevendo molti apprezzamenti da parte della critica e del pubblico.

Numerosi i siti internet italiani e stranieri dove è presente con le sue opere,fra i quali, ultimamente,l'invito ad essere inserito nella galleria virtuale Saatchi Gallery di arte contemporanea a Londra, e nel network internazionale "artmesh" di arte contemporanea con sede a Berlino. Diverse sue opere,sia pittoriche,che grafiche, si trovano in collezioni private in Italia e all'estero.

Profile

Gambetti's imagination moves in a dimension of neo-figurative structuralism. Over fifteen years of artistic endeavour his quest has evolved in a continuous process from expressive representations strongly influenced by primitive art (especially African), to a freer and more personal interpretation which, in most recent times, has exploited the discovery of the new language of so-called "computer graphics" which has profoundly revolutionised the way art is made, and has led to a new aesthetic of image creation.

Lately, the artist has enjoyed graphically reworking subjects that already belonged to his cultural heritage , giving birth to a sort of "theatre of the memory" whose evocative emblematic expressiveness is both intrinsically enigmatic and, at the same time, fascinating. Besides the originality of the subjects, the graphic vision that Gambetti has developed over time contributes in no small way to his works.

Especially in his more recent "graphic elaborations" and digital "photo-paintings",he uses formats that enhance descriptiveness and give further scope to a variegated universe of shapes/figures, deformations of symbols and allegories. Here two themes, that are at the same time both very distinct but yet very close to each other, merge. These themes are on the one hand the great tradition of Italian Renaissance painting, and on the other, modern and contemporary art.

We notice that special attention has been paid to H.Bosch, Peter Bruegel, M.C .Escher, Andy Warhol, Max Ernst, René Magritte, Storm Thorgerson; artists who are very disparate but who share a similar unrestrained freedom of creativity, which reveals, intact, the mysterious meaning of life and of all things.

Gambetti tries to give form and shape, an order to this variegated pictorial world, by applying an interpretative theory in which both man and nature are contained and unified. This theory, which is applied with strong and evocative chromatic effects, is based on the four primitive elements, earth, air, fire and water. According to the ancients, these four elements were governing principles, rather than physical forces.

They were evidence of the intimate essence of life in the cycle of continual evolution. Consistent with this theory, the painter has carried out works that are mutations, metamorphoses and reflections of human faces in these four basic elements. The shape of some of these works is remarkable and significant.

They are sequences painted on long rectangles - real modern predelle. Just as the classical predelle supported polyptychs and altar-pieces in churches, here, similarly, these predelle take on the role of supporting and validating (with their symbolic meaning) a secular sense of life and nature. Among these works, I find the predella dedicated to the element earth impressive and evocative. There are also some disquieting aspects in the cocoon-face, which opens to let the butterfly emerge; perhaps as if it wants to say that Man's journey towards Nature (or the reflection of Nature in Man) contains dark and unpredictable aspects within itself. Gambetti's painting, with its underlying theme of the four elements, expresses the vitality and creative energy of the painting process, which is no mere imitation of nature but becomes a personal, original interpretation of it.

We can certainly affirm that Gambetti is an inquisitive, sensitive painter who is undergoing continual evolution.