Biography
Franco Accursio Gulino was born in Sciacca in 1949. He qualified for teaching Art, Geometry and Architecture at the University of Palermo. After working in Milan and Ferrara between 1970 and 1973 he now lives in Sciacca and Rome. Gulino continuously changed studios but he has always had two: the painting one and the thinking one. A “cave” in the old town centre where he paints and a retreat on the headland that looks over the African sea where he thinks, plans and writes. And it is precisely from this headland that the artist draws his inspiration for his works dedicated to the historical event of Graham’s Island, known as Ferdinandea, interpreted by Gulino as a thinking entity which choses freedom and refuses man’s violence and dullness, therefore sinking. An entire page of the Herald Tribune was dedicated to the artist’s work in 2000 and in 2001 the art video Ferdinandea l’isola pensante was filmed (a co-production of the Municipality of Palermo and Turin’s theatre Fahrenheit 451). In the twenty years between 1970 and 1990, Gulino received important awards and prizes and made solo and collective exhibitions. In 1985 an artistic and cultural tribute against world famine was organized in Sciacca from an idea by the artist and whose introduction was written by Francesco Renda. In 1997 a solo exhibition entitled ‘Design and Embalmer’ was organized in New York and presented by Gioacchino Lanza Tommasi at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura at “La Guardia Hall” Art Gallery on whose catalogue, published by Sellerio publishing house, he wrote for the artist Mr. Robert Viscusi. The following year he showed his solo exhibition works at The Art Gallery at the Brooklyn College and at the Allen Priebe Gallery in Wisconsin. A research seminar on the cultured and popular “sources” which constitute the matrix of his artistic works was dedicated to Gulino. In 1999 the In/Out solo exhibition was organized by “La centrale dell’arte” of Rome at the Cantieri Culturali della Zisa in Palermo. The highlight here are the old, painted and reinterpreted doors by the artist, suggesting the theme of crossover, of openness to dialogue and of cultural memory. It is Maria Catalano Rand who wrote for the artist. In 2003 he exhibited in the solo exhibition entitled In medio stat virtus organized by the Fondazione Orestiadi of Gibellina. It is now Mr. Gianluca Ranzi who wrote its introduction. The bookshelves-installation with volumes sculpted and painted in the wood reveal the artistic work of Gulino which has always moved between different cultures in an attempt not only to approach worlds which are considered aprioristically far and impervious, but to show the different interconnections between the East and the West. In 2004 on the occasion of the concert Concerto a dieci voci per l’Europa at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, the artist created his work entitled Tabularium to celebrate the entry of ten new countries in the European Union. In 2007 the publishing house Millenium of Rome created the catalogue of Gulino’s works entitled Catalogo ragionato, whose preface was written by the critic Costanzo Costantini. On 28 April 2011 a solo exhibition entitled Camminanti was inaugurated in Nairobi, Kenya, which tells the story of migrants, stowaways, people on the road and experiencing change. Actually, one of the themes, which characterizes all Gulino’s works, is clandestineness, meaning the condition of life, where stowaways are not only passengers on rickety boats, but people who experience life, non-aligned people, the rebels. The artist has been invited to represent contemporary art in our Country by the Embassy and by the Italian cultural institute in Kenya, during the celebration for the 150 years of the Unification of Italy. The catalogue was published by Sellerio publishing house with an introduction by the art historian Mr. Carlo Bertelli. Since the early 90’s F. A. Gulino has been active in the production of a cycle of more than 150 works dedicated to Pier Paolo Pasolini. Some works of this cycle were projected in the show P. P. P. Siamo tutti in pericolo directed by Daniele Salvo (Teatro Stabile, Turin, 2007; Teatro dei Filodrammatici, Milan, 2007; Teatro Vascello, Rome, 2015; Teatro Franco Parenti, Milan, 2015). In 2012 he exhibited in Rome in occasion of the collective exhibition PPP. Una polemica inversa. Omaggio a Pier Paolo Pasolini, a contemporary art exhibition inspired by the writer’s poetry, organized by Flavio Alivernini. The catalogue, published by Fandango Libri, was introduced by a review by Achille Bonito Oliva. In November 2012 the cultural magazine MicroMega devoted the cover and the internal pages to the cycle about Pasolini. In 2014 the one-man exhibition Clandestini. Passano all’asta i sogni, organized by Laura Anello, opened in Palazzo Steri (a prison of the Spanish inquisition), Palermo. In 2015 he was invited to participate at the exhibition Artisti di Sicilia. Da Pirandello a Iudice by Vittorio Sgarbi. In the same year there is the exhibition Memorie. Ritratto d’artista opened in Palermo at Palazzo Ziino (GAM) by Paola Nicita. The catalogue is Caracol publishing house, the presentation is Paolo Flores d’Arcais. From July to September 2015 he exhibited in the collective exhibition entitled Eolie 1950/2015. Mare Motus. L’isola nell’arte contemporanea dalla Sicilia al Cile, organized by Lea Mattarella and Lorenzo Zichichi in the charming rooms of Lipari castle (Santa Caterina church and former prison). In 2015 he exhibited in the solo exhibition entitled Hecce homo organized by the Agorà Gallery of Palermo and presented by Stefania Gioacchino. In 2015 and 2016 a personal exhibition has been arranged at the Verdura Resort Sicily – Rocco Forte Hotels. In June 2016 he was invited to participate at the exhibition Pasolini. Un poeta opened in La Dogana Milano. In September 2016 he was invited to participate at the exhibition Per raccontare l’arte opened in Spazio agorà, Palermo. In October 2016 the one-man exhibition Passano all’asta i sogni, organized by Galleria d’arte contemporanea Horti Lamiani, opened in Rome. From February to March 2017 he exhibited in the collective exhibition entitled Imago mundi. Rotte Mediterranee organized by Biennale Arcipelago Mediterraneo at Cantieri Culturali Alla Zisa – Spazio Zac – Zona Arti Contemporanee. From January to February 2018 the Frammenti di memoria – Lager exhibition was organized by Antony Francesco Bentivegna. From September to October 2018, a new exhibition entitled Black Friday has been arranged at the Spazio Contemporaneo Agorà and Spazio Edicola in Palermo, managed by Stefania Giacchino and Antony Francesco Bentivegna. This new experience is included into the Palermo capitale italiana della cultura main programme. About this, Stefania Giacchino said: «this is a new step of the artist, a meditation step. Here he looks at the modern era, where art is reduced to a commercial object, with always new buyers and protagonists. Art is not analised into its essence anymore». From February 23 to March 1, 2019 he was invited to exhibit at the 1st Biennial of St. Moritz (Switzerland), at the Paracelsus Forum, an event curated by Prof. Egidio Maria Eleuteri and art historians Martina D’Ambrosio and Elisa Susanna. In this event the artist is awarded for "the plasticity, the emotion, the recovery of the truth of memory, of beauty in its various cycles of paintings". From 1 April to 1 June of the same year he exhibited at the Hôtel de Paris in Monte-Carlo. From 7 December 2019 to 12 January 2020 he exhibited in the personal Corde tese e passi curated by the Orestiadi Foundation of Gibellina at the Regional Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Palermo (Palazzo Belmonte Riso). In 2021 he was invited to exhibit at the London START Art Fair at Saatchi Gallery in London and in the permanent collection at the MAC – Museum of Contemporary Art Ludovico Corrao in Gibellina. From August to September 2021 he exhibited in the collective exhibition entitled Memento Monocromo at the Espace Gallery in Mazara del Vallo organized by Antony Francesco Bentivegna. Since June of the same year the work entlited Passano all’asta i sogni is located at the Quirinale - Presidency of the Italian Republic. Several documentaries and Art Videos have been produced on the artist, among which How many individuals are you? and Portrait of the Artist. Franco Accursio Gulino directed by the Austrian film director Johanna Tschautscher. The latter won the International Film Festival on European Art, ART & FILM 2006-TELC in Prague. The documentary has been presented in several European cities. Gulino’s literary and pictorial production has also inspired some short films written and directed by the artist himself. The works of Franco Accursio Gulino are exhibited in national and international exhibitions and are in numerous public and private collections.