Gilberto Zorio was born in Andoro Micca in 1944, but he lives and works in Turin.
He's one of the protagonists of the Arte Povera movement. In Gilberto Zorio's work, there's an evident search for communion between the composition rules that have been reduced to a primary level almost as pure energy and the constitutive elements subjected to esoteric laws. As a result, an art that has abandoned disorder to show its magic alchemical symbolic harmony reemerges. In his works, poor materials such as lead, copper sulfate, salt, clay, coal are combined with elements of the heroic imaginary such as stars, canoes or alembics, all of them protagonists of a trip that have corroded or torn off some parts. In this way, cosmic energy and esthetic power confront each other in Gilberto Zorio's works.

Other than his participation in numerous national and international exhibitions with the Arte Povera group, it's worth mentioning, among Zorio's most important recent one-man shows, his presentation at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, and his retrospective at the Loggetta Lombardesca, Pinacoteca Comunale (Municipal Paintings Gallery), Ravenna, both in 1979; his participation in the Venice Biennial and his exhibition at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, both in 1986. In 1992, Zorio exhibited his works at the Centro per l'Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, and at the Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain, Nice. In 1996, a retrospective was presented by Galleria Civica d'Arte Moderna, Trento. In 1997, Zorio had a solo room at the Venice Biennial. In 2001, his one-man show was presented by the Dia Center for the Arts in New York.

Gilberto Zorio's relationship with Galleria Fumagalli began in 2001, when he exhibited several works from his alchemy laboratory at the gallery.
On that occasion, a catalogue with texts by Danilo Eccher and with a vast number of opinions from friends, artists, critics and gallery owners was published. A publication by Edizioni Galleria Fumagalli in cooperation with Hopefulmonster is being prepared. The book will be presented on the occasion of Zorio's exhibition at the Institute Mathildenhoe, Darmstadt, by July 2005.