From his encounters with Fontana, Restany and Le Noci to the recent banner for the Flag-Wavers of Gubbio exhibited in Kuwait City
This year, he took part in the performance of the Flag-Wavers of Gubbio, held in Kuwait City, creating a banner that, following his distinctive behavioral approach, offers symbolic references to Saint Francis, the wolf, and the city of Gubbio itself. At eighty-six years of age (born in Galatina, Lecce, on February 8, 1939), Marrocco continues to express an extraordinary creative energy that has allowed him to engage with over six decades of contemporary art with tireless invention. The artist we know today emerged from his early experiences in the workshops of local artisans and his subsequent studies in urban design. The turning point came with his meeting with Lucio Fontana, who, in 1962, urged him to settle in Milan, then at the height of artistic innovation.
Born in Galatina in 1939, he has traversed more than sixty years of contemporary art with experimental freshness
There, Marrocco exhibited in various spaces, including Guido Le Noci’s Galleria Apollinaire, where he met Pierre Restany, founder of Nouveau Réalisme. Restany, deeply impressed by his work, invited him to collaborate with Jean Tinguely. The central role of material and of the many materials often assembled together can be seen as both a recurring echo of his early craftsmanship and a reflection of his initial Milanese experiments. This led him toward programmed and kinetic art, where he employed materials such as cardboard or packing board (Intrecci, 1962–63) and stainless steel (Strutture, 1966).
In 1962, he met Lucio Fontana, who encouraged him to move to Milan, then a city alive with artistic ferment
His continuous dedication to aesthetic exploration later brought him to behavioral art, of which he is considered one of the key interpreters, through his use of performance (particularly the cycles dedicated to writing), his experiments with the language of the body and his exploration of sound-based communication. He also developed original inventions such as his Tele colorate per combustione di fumogeni (“Canvases colored by the combustion of smoke bombs”). In the sacred field, his major works include the three bronze portals of the Sanctuary of Santa Maria di Leuca in 1999 and the one for the Cathedral of Lecce in 2000. And so, up to the present day. Marrocco continues to renew and perpetuate, through his art, the reflections, emotions and questions of existence itself.
In the sacred sphere, he sculpted three bronze portals for the Sanctuary of Santa Maria di Leuca in 1999, and in 2000 the one for the Cathedral of Lecce
