Corrado Damiani was born in 1943 in Milan, where his family lived in Via Brera, 3. He lives and works mostly in Trieste, where his studio is located. This spirited, multi-talented yet reserved painter, sculptor, engraver, and artist curated performances and artistic sets for conventions and presentations, and designed medals, trophies, and books; he invented the engraving technique known as zincofusione, a term he coined himself. His first works, which date back to 1968, were oil paintings; in the 1970s, they were followed by burin engravings on anodized aluminium, preferably black, which he often further modified by adding noble metals: gold leaf, moulded silver foil, and small nuggets. This technique can be defined as his initial style, since it was the starting point for the experimental research which still marks his work.
In 1975, he was invited to the Art Quadriennal of Rome. Initially a self-taught artist, in 1976 he attended the International School in Venice, where he studied experimental techniques under the master Riccardo Licata. That same year, upon invitation, he held his first personal exhibition at the Galleri Ateneum in Lund, Sweden; on that occasion, Bertil Hjort, who was Superintendent of the Academy at the time, wrote this about him: “an interesting young artist who is beginning to establish a reputation on the international scene..”.
In 1989, he opened a second studio in order to focus on large pieces, sculptures, assemblage pieces, and multi-media works: Italian art catalogues call him “an artist whose works are figurative, conceptual, and material in nature”.
Over the course of his artistic career, he was bestowed with numerous awards and recognition from art critics. Many collectors, including international ones, appreciate his work, and many of his pieces are held in private and public collections, public agencies, banks, and donations – as far as we are aware– in the following European countries: Italy, Austria, Spain, Sweden, Greece, Belgium, France, Germany, and Switzerland; the following U.S. states: New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Florida, and Oklahoma, as well as in Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
He has held 35 personal exhibitions in Italy and abroad, and participated in over one hundred collective exhibitions and international events, including several biennials, such as the Third Biennial of Iron Sculpture, and has exhibited at the Museo del Divenire modern art museum in Scopoli, the Torre Strozzi contemporary art centre in Parlesca (Perugia), and the Fifth Florence Biennale, the international contemporary art exhibition held in the Fortezza da Basso. His participation in the latter event was promoted by the Artport 1 Trieste-Rome cultural association, with the support of the CRTrieste Foundation. There, an authoritative international jury awarded him in the Mixed Media Installation category. With the support of public agencies and international associations, he was a candidate for the Venice Biennale on numerous occasions. In 2009 he was one of 290 international artists admitted to a competition for works to be displayed in the MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Art in Rome.