Enrico Baj (Milan, 1924 – Vergiate, Varese, 2003)

He discovered the European avant-gardes in Geneva in 1944. Returning to Milan after the war, he attended the Brera Academy while simultaneously earning a degree in Law. He exhibited Informal works at his first solo show at the San Fedele Center in 1951 and, alongside Sergio Dangelo, founded the Nuclear Movement (Movimento Nucleare). The movement’s first Manifesto was published on the occasion of an exhibition at the Apollo Gallery in Brussels in 1952, gaining the support of artists such as Fontana, Jorn, Klein, Manzoni, Arnaldo and Giò Pomodoro, Kaisserlian, and Dal Fabbro. He participated in every movement exhibition until the final one at the San Fedele Center in 1957. His "Nuclear" works feature bold colors and textured "nuclei" in captivating implosive movements.

In 1953, in opposition to the rationalist spirit of the Bauhaus refounded by Max Bill, Baj and Asger Jorn founded the International Movement for an Imaginist Bauhaus. From 1954, the "International Ceramics Meetings" began in Albisola, involving figures such as Fontana, Matta, Appel, Scanavino, and Dangelo. In the mid-1950s, he collaborated with the magazines il Gesto and Phases and worked at the Experimental Laboratory in Alba. In 1957, he published the manifesto "Against Style" (Contro lo stile) with the Nucleari, Manzoni, Klein, the Pomodoro brothers, Restany, Saura, Sordini, and Verga.

He exhibited at Gallery One in London and signed the "Manifeste de Naples" in 1959. From 1960 onwards, he exhibited with the Surrealists. Throughout his career, he experimented with various techniques and materials. His Mountains (1959-60) were created with synthetic color emulsions; his Collages utilized wood veneers, inlays, and paint. He also worked on Mirrors, reconstructed from fragments, and from 1960 on his famous Generals: works of biting irony created through multi-material collages (fabrics, found objects) inspired by Alfred Jarry’s 'Pataphysics.

In 1962, at the exhibition "The Art of Assemblage" in New York, he met Marcel Duchamp. In Paris, he was close to writers and poets with whom he collaborated on book illustrations. André Breton dedicated a text to him in 1963 and invited him to join the College of 'Pataphysics. Raymond Queneau presented him at the 1964 Venice Biennale. He also participated in the XIII Triennale.

He created plastic Ties in 1967 and d'après Picasso and Seurat in fabric and trimmings in 1968. In 1972, he completed the monumental collage and acrylic on wood with mixed materials dedicated to the "Funeral of the Anarchist Pinelli". From 1978, he worked on Apocalypse, a multi-technique work spanning sixty meters in length. In the mid-1980s, his focus shifted to grotesque figuration featuring mannequins set within architectural landscapes. He also produced a vast cycle of figures using "Meccano" and worked on the Parisian edition of Ubu Roi. A contributor to the Corriere della Sera and an author of several volumes, he curated Milanese exhibitions dedicated to 'Pataphysics and Picabia. His work has been featured in countless gallery exhibitions and is supported by an extensive body of critical literature.