Dario Aguzzi was born in Milan in 1955. He started drawing when he was 10 years old with his father
Lino and painting at 12. He got his high-school Art certificate from the "Liceo Artistico" of Milan
studying with Bartolini and Paolini.
Later he graduated from BRERA ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS of Milan
where he studied History of Art with Zeno Birolli.
He also had the opportunity to collaborate with
some others teachers like: Vincenzo Ferrari and Manfredi.
Dario Aguzzi has always been interested in
the portrait and has developed an anamorphic three dimensional vision since 1973. Being also a music
lover he began in 1978 to take an interest in the art of violin making with the design and realization
of a baroque violin which was the topic of his History of Art’s thesis in 1979. In 1982 he began the
profession of violin maker with a personal design inspired by the ancients.
Ever since he has been creating ancient instruments decorated with original paintings.
Dario Aguzzi’s portraits show a remarkable ability to synthesize Ancient and Modern in a contemporary
vision. The influence of the Ancient pass through the wise use of painting techniques (from oil to
fat tempera on table) and also his reference to the great Masters of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth
centuries – from Antonello da Messina to Leonardo da Vinci, from Lorenzo Lotto to Giorgione and
Titian – who have studied the deep expression of the person bringing back his feelings.
The study on the forms by which man expresses his way of being through the expressions of the face
in Dario Agazzi’s work is made by an anamorphic result based on perspective deformations. It is the
result from the interplay between a two-dimensional surface and the third dimension, in order to obtain
different points of view which change in relation to the point of observation, as if we could turn around
a sculpture or we were in front of a portrait that follows us with his glance.
The exploration of the subject, made by the artist, is then shared with the audience directly
involved in researching and capturing the fine line between person, personality and character.
In this way the relationship between author, actor and spectator is enhanced by the attempt
to focus on the individuality and its different ways of expression.
The result is an "Animated Portraits Gallery" in terms of vision and representation through
which the nature of the soul is analyzed, through the folds of the face, the liveliness
of the glance, the forcing of the expressions.
Dario Aguzzi, in the choice of the subjects, moves freely from classic suggestions – with the series
dedicated to the Muses, the Philosophers, the Roman Emperors - to the icons of our time:
actors, musicians, entertainers, protagonists of the public scene who are used to show
themselves and, at the same time, to hide themselves, modulating and distorting the
traits of their personality, from time to time. And in Dario’s works they are barely retained
in the profile of the frame.
Francesca Porreca
Curator "Civic Art Museums" of Pavia - Italy