Biography

CIO ZANETTA
14th October 1946 - † 26th January 2021
Cio Zanetta born in Bruzella (Valle di Muggio, TI-SWISS) the 14th October 1946, since 1989 he has lived and worked in Bellinzona. Artist "self-taught by choice", as he liked to define himself, he began his career and his artistic training in 1970 and four years later he attended the Brera Art Academy in Milan. However, it was only in 1980 that he devoted himself exclusively to painting with important stays abroad (Cité des Arts in Paris, among others). His first important solo show was in 1979 at the Galleria Nuova Sfera in Milan: then he exhibited regularly, albeit with wide intervals, even outside the cantonal borders.
It is interesting to note that at the beginning of his production he categorically rejected color, focusing solely on black and white. Then at a certain point the explosion of colors took place, but always and only the primary ones (yellow, red and blue). Very bright colors that allowed him to immerse himself in the study of his still favorite subject: the human figure.
As always, the human condition is at the center of the attention of this artist from Bellinzona, who loves to dig into everyday reality and in the current historical moment to find but also to explicitly leave a trace of himself. His paintings, free from any conformism or academic dictates, thus become witnesses of the drama of our present. A present that tomorrow will inexorably transform into a memory, into a trace or into a simple faded presence of human memory, but that will not vanish because an artist with a mild and sensitive soul has fixed it in time on canvas.
Flavia Crameri (LINK)
His works can be found in public and private collections in Switzerland, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Greece and America.
His paintings have been exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions, both in Switzerland and abroad:
Solo exhibitions:
1979 Galleria Nuova Sfera, Milano (28 opere)
1980 Casa Verda, Bissone
1981 Piccolo Cabaret del Bosco, Bosco Luganese
1981 Fass, Sciaffusa (30 disegni)
1982 Galleria Mosaico, Chiasso
1984 Galleria Tonino, Campione d’Italia (34 opere)
1985 Galleria Am Waidfussweg, Zurigo
1986 Galerie de Couvaloup, Morges (27 opere)
1987 Galleria Am Waidfussweg, Zurigo - “ARIA DI PARIGI” (28 opere)
1989 Galleria alla Loggia, Carona - “INFORMAZIONE” (18 opere)
1989 Casa Comunale, Roveredo (TI) - “FRAMMENTI” (11 opere)
1990 Galleria Am Waidfussweg, Zurigo - “REPERTI FUTURIBILI” (18 opere)
1991 Galleria La Cornice, Bellinzona (19 opere)
1992 Galleria Am Waidfussweg, Zurigo (26 opere)
1994 Centro Culturale Ciseri, Ronco s. Ascona (31 opere)
1994 Urner Kantonalbankz, Altdorf (32 opere)
1994 Galerie Altstadt, Bülach (23 opere)
1996 Galleria La Casa, Vaglio (20 opere)
1997 Zentrum am Thunersee, Gwatt (48 opere)
1999 Ente Turistico, Bellinzona (24 opere)
2001 Cureglia
2002 Spataro, Claro (40 opere)
2003/6 Hotel Millennium, Locarno - Expo opere Cio Zanetta durante il New Orleans Jazz Festival di Ascona e le Jazz Night’s del Film Festival Locarno (18 opere)
2007 Galleria il Pozzo, Bellinzona - “PRESENZE”
2013 Galleria Job, Giubiasco - “PER LA MEMORIA” (28 opere)
2015 Galleria il Raggio, negozio La Cornice, Lugano - “CON DIVISIONI” (25 opere)
Group exhibitions:
1979 “PITTIRI AL PARCO”, Rivetta Tell, Lugano Cassarate (31 opere)
1979 Villa Malpensata, Lugano
1980 Lito Galleria, Cortivallo
1981 Buffet della Stazione, Bellinzona
1983 Ristorante La Meridiana, Balerna
1983 Biennale SPSAS, Delémont
1984 Galleria SPSAS, Locarno
1984 Galerie am Platz, Eglisau - “KÜNSTLER AUS TESSIN”
1985 Sala Esposizioni Il Torchio, Balerna
1985 Galleria Toni Brechbühl, Grenchen
1985 “TICINO TERRA D'ARTISTI”, Castelmont Prilly (10 opere)
1985 “PITTURA D'OGGI NEL TICINO”, Credito Svizzero Lugano (16.12.'85-23.03.'86) (4 opere)
1985 “KUNST IM FLUSS”, Gruppo Göschenen, Windisch
1986 Galleria Beato Berno, SPSAS, Ascona - “CURIOSITÀ=LIBERTÀ”
1986 ARCIDESIGN Piazza Riforma, Lugano
1987 Galleria Katia La Coste, San José California USA - “INTRODUCTION”
1987 Cité Internationale des Arts, Parigi
1990 Golf Club Lugano, Magliaso (4 opere)
1994 Galleria La Cornice, Bellinzona - “DIECI ANNI DODICI ARTISTI” (6 opere)
1996 Antico Monastero delle Agostiniane, Monte Carasso - “TRANSIT” (47 opere)
1998 Centro Abitare, Giubiasco (40 opere)
2002 Banca Stato, Lugano (4 opere)
2005 Museo Civico di Belle Arti, Lugano
2009 Galleria La Casa, Vaglio
2015 Visarte, Lugano
