Pier Paolo Calzolari (Bologna, 1943), lives and works in Lisbon.

Pier Paolo Calzolari is a leading figure of the Arte Povera movement, his work strongly charachterized by the use of unconventional and dynamic materials, such as light from burning candles or neon, salt, moss, leaves, ice and refrigerator coils, metals and felt. Anchored in Arte Povera, Calzolari’s research nevertheless distinguishes itself through an introspective approach in searching for poetry in objects of his personal daily life.

His work has been exhibited three times at the Venice Biennale in 1978, 1980 and 1990, as well as in Documenta in Kassel in 1992. In 1994 an important retrospective was dedicated to him at the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume in Paris and at the Museo Castello di Rivoli, Torino.

Calzolari’s work is exhibited in important museums worldwide, such as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, and the MAXXI – Museo delle Arti del XXI secolo, Rome, Palazzo Grassi, Punta della Dogana, François Pinault Foundation, Venice. In 2019, Calzolari was the subject of a major retrospective, Painting as a Butterfly, at the MADRE Museum in Naples, Italy, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva and Andrea Villani. More recently, in 2023-24, Casa ideale, a major solo exhibition on the artist’s work has been held at the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco, Villa Paloma, Monaco, while Arte Povera,  curated by  Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev at the Bourse de Commerce, Pinault Collection in Paris, France, has featured a large installation focusing on earlier works of his.