Niele Toroni

Niele Toroni was born in Muralto, Switzerland in 1937. Toroni belongs to the first generation of European minimalist painters active since the 1960s.

His working method, sometimes considered radical, is as famous as it is unvarying. Since 1967, he has been applying, on every type of surface, imprints of a no. 50 paintbrush at regular intervals of 30 cm. He has utilized site specific environments and diverse surfaces to activate space and free painting from authorship and its prescribed, mimetic, representative conditions.

Toroni, who does not think of himself as an artist but as a painter, declares that his work comes into view, and must be absorbed “with a single glance.” His ambition is for painting to offer “un apprentissage de la vision” – a way of learning to see. “I do not visualize ideas: I apply a paintbrush, the imprints of the paintbrush become visible, and this (the work/painting) may be generative of new ideas.”

The critical dimension of his work explores the meaning of pictorial activity, but, in contrast to the minimalist or conceptual approach, the gesture is essential.

In 2016 he was awarded the Rubenspreis; the Meret-Oppenheim Prize in 2012; the Wolfgang-Hahn Prize by the Museum Ludwig Cologne, 2003; and the French Vermeil Medal by the City of Paris in 2001.