Fabrizio Plessi was born in Reggio Emilia, Italia, in 1940. He completed his studies at the arts high school and at Venice's Academy of Fine Arts where he later was given a teaching position in painting. Since 1968 the central theme of his painting has been water, an element present in his installations, films, videotapes and performances.

Plessi is a video artist, whose works are found in the most important museums of contemporary arts in the world. to name only some of the most important international museums and exhibitions, we can list: the 1970 and 1972 Venice Art Biennials; the 1982 exhibition at the Pompidou Center; Video Going, a large survey show considered the first exhibition environmental video installations in Italy; Documenta VIII; a 1998 retrospective at New York's Guggenheim Museum SoHo; an 2001 exhibition based on the themes of fire and water at the Correr Museum in Venice, and an 2002 exhibition of ten large installations at the Scuderie del Quirinale.

Pressi's artistic research revolves around breaking down the barriers between art and science. However, the main theme of his research is always water - an ancient, ancestral, primordial element represented through a contemporary medium, an element of today, namely video.

The poetic element in his work was born precisely from this unusual coexistence, in which water is seen as a primary form of energy contaminated by the quintessential technological element: video.

Another recurring element in his works is fire but one that does not burn. Like an alchemist, Fabrizio Plessi attempts to make two apparently opposite and contrary elements coexist with the ultimate objective of humanizing technology by filling the video with emotional meanings.

Source:
Berengo Fine Arts, www.berengo.com