BIO /english

(also check the Italian version or other language available)

Born in 1977, Mitja “Verbo” Bombardieri is a versatile artist whose interests range from painting to the electronic avant-garde. His particular abilities in all the visual arts led him to mature rapidly in the European graffiti-writing movement in which his work resulted in his being invited to work with the historic PDB crew and being asked to participate in international exhibitions.

The main message of Bombardieri’s paintings is the “cerebration of style”, which is both automatically the emotional conduit for his contempory life and the shiny dream aesthetic that found its first expression in that generation which grew up under a televisual bombardment of cartoons and video games, and which finds its collocation between broadcast mass media communications and city streets.

His study of his personal mode of communication has changed it over time into dynamic and plastic forms that take on the structure of armour that protects the soul of an innocent letter, just as a child does, writing in his spelling book: they are true external skeletons of biomechanical insects that fight daily to survive in the urban ecosystem, visually contaminating it. Through the actions of a writer, Verbo willingly celebrates the sense that these beings represent the ferment of a spontaneous subculture that spreads beyond the social superstructure, bringing to the surface new, fresh and unexpected aesthetic forms, just as bees bring pollen to flowers.

In addition to using the painting techniques that are typical of graffiti culture, Verbo has introduced new visual rules thanks to his use of the computer, projectors and FLxER, a computer program that he has co-developed. He takes the electronic instruments out of the spaces in which he usually exhibits as a visual artist and on to the street where his “Video Raids” find a more congenial “back to the street” public where everything is spoken about without distinction and, turning on the luminous signals in the dark of the night, a location is transformed into an essential part of the visual performance

We can therefore speak about the spreading of the Word, a non-random play on words and letters. This is the starting point for a “mass literacy project”, choosing to work with the art market and presenting a particular study of his calligraphy that certainly celebrates his style while at the same time marking the relationship between the writer and his social context, a fundamental symbiosis for the essence of this form of expression. It follows that the choice of working on printing plates, symbols of mass communications, represents not only crossing and committing to the urban context in order to be seen, but also to crossing the publicity appearance that is in perfect tune with the act of writing itself: the act and the context, or the style that celebrates the contemporary.

Exhibitions:

• 2010 Pisa, Cantiere Sanbernardo “Materia N°8″ solo show.
• 2010 Angers, “ARTAQ – 1st streetart awards” collective exhibition.
• 2010 Viterbo, VITArte collective exhibition.
• 2010 Innsbruck, Art Fair Innsbruck.
• 2010 Bergamo, BAF Bergamo Arte Fiera.
• 2009 Paris,  La Cigalle, “Millon cornette de saint cyr” -  Auction for MILLON & ASSOCIÉS
• 2008 Buenos Aires, Espacio Centro Cultural Recoleta, collective exhibition organised by Vittorio Sgarbi
• 2008 Sao Paulo, MAC, Museo Arte Contemporanea, collective exhibition organised by Vittorio Sgarbi e Fabio Magalhães
• 2007 Treno Dell’Arte, Museo per un Giorno 2007 – Da Tiziano alla Street Art: 500 anni di Arte Italiana, various cities.
• 2007 Benevento, Muralia, Palazzo Paolo V collective exhibition organised by Vittorio Sgarbi
• 2007 Milan, MiArt 2007: “A3″
• 2007 Bologna, Artefiera: “A3″
• 2007 Milan, Nhow, Decontamination, collective exhibition organised by Vanina Schenone
• 2007 Parma, Arte Parma 2007
• 2007 Bari, Expo Arte 2007, Fiera del levante
• 2007 Milano, PAC, Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, collective exhibition: Street Art Sweet Art
• 2006 Naples, NotGallery: “A3″
• 2005 Naples, Galleria D’arte Sangiorgio: “48 Segnalibri”
• 2004 Bergamo, Chiostro S. Francesco: “In_Chiostro”
• 2005 Bergamo, GAMEC: “Musei di notte”
• 2004 Rome, Rialto S. Ambrogio: “Graphics on canvas”
• 2004 Rome, 47th Floor: “Verbo, Stile dalla A alla Z” solo show
• 2004 Milan, Quark Hotel: “Airbrush Show 2004″

Publications:

• “GRAFFITI WRITING” Origini, significati, tecniche e protagonisti in Italia, Mondadori Arte 2008
• StileArte Magazine, interview with Giovanna Galli, 2008
• Arte In, international bi-monthly, 2007
• Exibart on Paper, Italy, 2007
• Il Treno dell’Arte, Catalogue, Italy, 2007
• Street Art, catalogue, Torcular, text by V.Sgarbi and L.Minelli, Italy 2007.
• Publication most national and international graffiti magazines and websites (Graphotism, Backspin, Defrag, Game Over, AELLE, 10.000 Maniacs, Juice, III Fame, Gotaste, and others)
• Interviews in the national and local daily and weekly press: Capital, La Stampa, Il Manifesto, Repubblica, Venerdì di Repubblica, Il Messaggiero, City, L’eco di Bergamo, etc.
• Interview in the documentary “G.R.A. Graffiti Roman Art”
• interview for “Diregiovani.it”
• guest on “Life Sharing” by Endemol
• Radio and television appearances, including ADN Kronos “Rotocalco”, Rai Uno for “Tele camere”, Rai Tre for HipHop Generation and “TG regionale”, Italia 1 for “Fuego”, La 7 for “Crea” and the television news, MTV for “Tg Flash”, Match Music and numerous local networks in Rome and Bergamo, radio Rai, Radio24, Rtl 102.5 etc.

Participations:

• Murales & Graffiti, Rome 2000 (International)
• Meeting Of Styles, Munster, Germany, 2003
• Meeting Of Style, Padua, 2005 and 2006 (international)
• Meeting, Marseilles, December 2000 (International )
• Winner, Italian section, international exhibition “Write4Gold 2004″
• 100 Contest, Paris, 2005 (International)
• Contests and happenings, including “Night Wave”, Rimini for two consecutive years.

Works for:

• Banca Intesa Sanpaolo
• Puma create
• Coca cola
• Nokia N-Gage
• Nike 1/1 football
• DC-Shoes
• Levis
• J.W.Thompson