Bruno Vallino

Biography and artistic personality. He was born in Locana Canavese on 18th May 1949. He lives and works in San Germano Chisone, Via Mondoni N°. 29.(TO) Italy
He lost his father while still a child and his family were compelled lo move to Pinerolo (Piedmont). Here Bruno attendees the local boarding school where he remained for nine years. "I was in third year - he says - when the painter Beretta did Vigone was called on to restore the Chapel. His art enchanted me and I spent all my spare lime watching him and dreaming. How I would like to he like that painter, I thought. The passion for air had been lit within me and when the following year there was a regional drawing competition for the elementary school l took part in it with great excitement. We were asked to illustrate an episode from the book "Cuore". I drew the story of the Sardinian Tambourine and then anxiously waited for the result. When at last discovered that they had chosen my drawing, I felt like one of the "greats". And so this was my artistic beginning. "Unfortunately as very often happens in life. The need to make a living meant he had to choose an education that would offer him the chance of a job and as Bruno could not afford to go to art school he entrolled at a technical college. The drawing teacher, however, noticed him and taught him the elementary techniques of drawing and painting and encouraged him to enrol at the Academia Artistic (Art Academy). On leaving school, Bruno finds a job as an apprentice decorator while his heart and soul are bound to painting. So in his spare time he refines his art. Initially he copies postcards, and then he reproduces the great master such as Degas, II Pissaro, Monet and Van Gogh. Time passes and our young artist must do his military conscription. Yet even in the rough barracks he makes a name for himself and obtains permission, along with some of his mates, to paint a mural in the officer's mess. Having successfully achieved it, he is now convinced that he must take up art. Once he receives his release papers he succeeds in organising two shows in San Germano. His mother, a fervent admirer and wise counsellor, encourages him to paint new themes such as landscapes and still life. These are received well by critics. Following his marriage in 1974 his productivity slackens. "For lack of space" he says. But then he moves back to San Germano and he is once again painting with great verve thanks also to the advice of the painter Guj Rìvoir, who opens up new perspectives. This friendship brings about a series of pictures that range from the abstract to the realistic. In the meantime a group of artiste has been set up in Villar Perosa. Called 'Villar Arte' Bruno joins them. It is the period in which he begins to discover watercolours a/so thanks to a course led by the painter. Nini Pero, which he attends with brilliant success. Alongside the Villar Arte Group, he takes part in various collections held in Orbassano, Volvera, Pragelato, Pinasca and Villar Perosa. Like many artists Bruno is now assailed by a period of sadness and disenchantment. He even considers giving up painting yet thanks to the encouragement of his wife and children he comes through this black phase and continues his work. To his great satisfaction he is awarded third prize at a show set up where he works. "But the most important thing, says the artist, "is that it gave me the chance to meet the painter. Guido Avanzi whose advice and encouragement rekindles in me once again all the joy of painting, and motivates me to take my easel into the streets and take part in impromptu activities. "
Alongside the painter Avanzi, Bruno joins the "Spazio-Arte" group in Perosa Argentina. The group promotes shows and collections where there are no prizes but which offers him an extraordinary chance to meet writers and poets and to exchanges ideas and opinions with them.
Bruno Vallino is a painter with a keen sensitivity for colour and he expresses his best in landscapes that succeed in capturing the dynamic fervour of life. Just take a look at the "Cascinale Pinerolese" (Pinerolo Farmstead). The herd of cows chewing the end symbolise life framed in autumnal colours to form the vegetation that fills the canvas. The trees and hills, punctuated he re and there by the while splashes of the houses revealing life and labour, are silhouetted against the bright blue of the sky.
Toil and the hard work of the fields are once again masterly depicted on the canvas "Vita di campagna" (Country Life), where an enormous bundle of hay spills aver the cart drawn with great effort by two oxen. Yet the whole scene is enlivened by the figures of two children who symbolise life that goes on, and the slow and certain continuation of the season. Bursting with life, vigour and colour, the "Mercato di Villastellone" (Villastellone Market) is a picture that fills the gaze with a skilful deployment of colour and is to be "savoured" through all the joy these colours express.