Michelangelo Pistoletto (June 23, 1933 - Biella, Italy)

He worked under his father in Turin from 1947 to 1958 as a painting restorer. In the 1950s he made figurative paintings, including many self-portraits. Pistoletto first participated in the Biennale di San Marino in 1959.

In 1966 his first solo exhibition in the United States was held at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. In 1967 he won a grand prize at the Bienale of São Paulo and the Belgian Art Critics’ Award. Also in 1967 Pistoletto began to pursue Performance art, an interest that would expand over his career to encompass work in film, video, and theater. With the Zoo group, which he founded, Pistoletto presented collaborative "actions" from 1968 until 1970. Meant to unify art and daily existence, these performances took place in his studio, in public institutions such as schools and theaters, and on the streets of Turin and other cities.

Pistoletto’s book "L’uomo nero, il lato insopportabile" was published in 1970 by Rumma Editore, Salerno. In 1974 he passed a ski instructor’s exam and was spending much of his time in the mountain town of San Sicario. In the late 1970s and early 1980s he made sculpture that drew from art-historical precedents, working, from the early 1980s, in polyurethane and marble. In 1979–80 he presented performance works in Atlanta and Athens, Georgia, as well as in San Francisco. Among his theater works are Opera Ah, presented in 1979 in the piazza of Corniglia, and Anno uno (Year One), performed in 1981 at Rome’s Teatro Quirino.

Pistoletto lives and works in Turin.