Giorgio Griffa was born in Turin in 1936, where he still lives and works today.
He is considered one of the principal examples of the style born at the end of 1970s called “anti-form”, which in Italy, with particular reference to painting, was called Pittura Analitica or Pittura Pittura. Giorgio Griffa's work can be considered a painting made of signs that have been stripped of meaning and "interrupted", like essential traces that unravel on the canvas. The memory of the painting, therefore, overlaps with the personal memory of the artist. The works of Giorgio Griffa are canvases without a frame, where the color becomes the means of an action, and the sketch, the effect of a thought. The canvases, lacking support, are hung directly on the wall. This voluntary departure from classical elements of painting suggests an idea of passing, flow, and movement, that goes through the painting and continues in the space that surrounds it, giving it a quality that is finished, not finished, and infinite, all at the same time.
His first personal exhibition was held at the Galleria Martano in Turin in 1968. In addition to participation in numerous national and international exhibitions dedicated to non figurative art, his most important exhibitions include: “Prospect 1969” at the Städtische Kunsthalle in Düsseldorf (and again in 1973 with “Prospect 1973”); “Processi di pensiero visualizzati – Junge Italianische Avantgarde” at the Museo di Lucerna in 1970; “Contemporanea” at Villa Borghese in Roma in 1973; “Geplante Malerei” at the Westfalischer Kunstverein of Münster in 1974; a personal show room at the XXXIX Biennial of Venice in 1980; “Informale in Italia” at GAM in Bologna in 1983; “Astratta” in 1988 at Palazzo Forti in Verona and also at the Palazzo della Permanente in Milan; “Aspetti della Pittura Italiana dal Secondo Dopoguerra ad oggi” at the Museo di Belas Artes, Rio de Janeiro and at the M.A.S.P. in Sao Paulo in 1989; and “Pittura Italiana da Collezioni Italiane” at the Museo di Rivoli in 1997.
During November 2001 and January 2002, the GAM of Turin dedicated two important shows to Griffa: one dedicated to works from 1968 until 1973 and the other dedicated to a series of works pertaining to his pink and purple series. In 2005, he held exhibitions at the Institute Mathildenhohe in Darmstadt, at the Kunsthalle of Aschaffengurg and at the Museo della Permanente in Milan.
Giorgio Griffa held personal exhibitions at the Galleria Lorenzelli in Milan during June 1976 and April 1978, and then personal exhibitions at Lorenzelli Arte in Milan during February 1981, March 1985 and most recently, "Come un dialogo", from April 10 until May 14, 1997. In addition, he participated in group exhibitions at the Galleria Lorenzelli in Milan: "Concetto di individualità", during September 1975, and "Maestri e amici cercando", during February 1977.