Light Prism
Alberto Biasi

Light Prism by Alberto Biasi, a kinetic sculpture with moving prisms that decompose and reflect light, produced in a limited edition of 50 pieces by Centro Duchamp in San Lazzaro di Savena (BO – Italy).

Label on the back by Archivio Alberto Biasi.

A founding member of the groundbreaking Italian artist collective Gruppo N, Alberto Biasi (1937) is a kinetic and Op art pioneer. He creates seemingly vibrating works with illusory tricks and precise geometry. Biasi was greatly inspired by Venezuelan artist Jesús Rafael Soto, whose kinetic sculptures he encountered at the 1958 Venice Biennale. In his own work, the artist explores the possibilities of mixing materials—including PVC strips, cotton gauzes, metal wires, and perforated cardboard—to create dizzying optical illusions that straddle two and three dimensions. From his earliest series, “Trame” (1959–60), which features frames that filter light to create a constellation like effect, to his later moire-like works made of multicolored PVC strips on painted wooden boards, Biasi challenges perception through his dynamic use of color and light. Since Gruppo N’s disbandment in 1967, Biasi has exhibited in more than 100 solo exhibitions and 500 group shows, including the pivotal 1965 survey of Op and kinetic art, “The Responsive Eye,” at the Museum of Modern Art, and in prestigious international presentations, including representing Italy at the Venice Biennale in 1964 and 1986, as well as the São Paulo Bienal in 1971.