Lauro Neri

sculptor

Lauro Neri was born in Castel Maggiore in the province of Bologna in 1947.
After graduating from the state art school, renamed and now known as Francesco Arcangeli, he followed the sculpture course at the Academy of Bologna for two years without following his degree because of the unrest in those years: it was 1968. The first rudiments of sculpture were given by Maestro Dante Carpigiani, assistant at the Academy.
Abandoned the Academy, he is forced to work in the factory to contribute to the maintenance of the family. Thanks to the insistence of the sculptors Carlo Santachiara and Bruno Bandoli, both of whom were impressed by his extraordinary talent,  Lauro Neri continues his activity as a sculptor who today, while retired, can devote himself full time.
He merges his sculptures at the Venturi Arte foundry in Bologna, which generously supports him.
Lauro Neri is a shy man, a sculptor unknown to the general public, with a profound capacity for observation. His bronze sculptures, a medium that he knows how to use as the most skilled masters of Rinascimento, depict scenes taken from rural life. But not only. Lauro Neri is attracted by the humanity that lives at the limits of our civilization or at the borders of cities: beggars, gypsies, non-EU citizens. Through these figures, the sculptor illustrates a current and fascinating cross-section of an alternative contemporary society which we call normal.