Piero Gilardi, an Italian artist associated with the Arte Povera movement, passed away at 80. He became a famous figure at the height of the Arte Povera movement both for his sculptures that envisioned a total merger of technology and nature and for departing the commercial art world just as his work had found a solid collector base.

Gilardi launched a career as an activist during the ’60s, returning to the gallery scene around a decade later. Museums in Europe and the US have become increasingly interested in his work in the past two decades, and a 2022 show at the Magazzino Italian Art museum in Cold Spring, New York, provided wider exposure to Gilardi’s practice.