Sandro Sanna was born in 1950 in Macomer, in Sardinia. At a young age, he moved with his family to Rome, where he currently lives and works. In 1972, he organized his first solo exhibition with George De Canino at the experimental space Bateau Ivre in Rome. That same year, he participated in the Mario Sironi Prize in Sassari. In 1974, he began teaching Life Drawing at the State Art Institutes. In 1975, he participated in the 10th Quadriennale d’Arte La Nuova Generazione, Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, with three works from the Paesaggi rivissuti series. In 1979, after a large solo exhibition at the C.A.A.A.P. in Rome, he participated in Scultura all’aperto, curated by Tito Amodei, in the gardens of Sala 1, Rome, with Vulcano, a clear reference to the changing dynamics of reality. The following year, continuing the theme of the transience of existence, he presented the exhibition Provvisorietà, featuring three installations in iron, plaster, and fresco, at Spazio Alternativo, Rome.
In the 1980s and 1990s, his work truly came to the fore: from this period are the Campi Magnetici and Tra la superficie e l’aria, large-scale monochromes where gesture and sign are the protagonists of a strong reduction of the image, making the surface vibrant and disorienting. During those years, he held solo exhibitions at the Galleria Giulia in Rome, in 1987 with the series Tra la superficie e l’aria curated by Lorenzo Mango, and in 1990 with La luce formante, with a text by Patrizia Ferri. With an eye on chaos and cosmic harmony, the works Pietre e Geodi (1993) took shape; subsequently, with Meteore, volumes between light and shadow, reflective golds and blacks emerged. He participated in the 1989 and 1993 Milan Art Biennale and in the 1990 Marche Prize presented by Fabrizio d’Amico.
In the mid-1990s, he created the Bisanzio cycle, whose surfaces are marked by luminous dots of gold leaf and synthetic films that evoke three-dimensionality and also structurally recall a musical score. This cycle of works was presented in 1994 in a solo exhibition curated by Luigi Meneghelli at the Galleria Giulia in Rome, and in the 1995 exhibition Moda e Arte, Ferrone Uomo / Sandro Sanna, at the Fortezza da Basso in Florence. Even in his later works, Muri d’acqua (Water Walls), Derive (Drifts), Maglie e Derive (Mails and Derives), and Geodi (Geodes) constitute the natural evolution of his earlier works; light and form coincide in a single agglomeration of impalpable and reflective matter. In 1997, he was invited to the Arte a Roma event and received the purchase award from the Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna in the capital. In 1998, he exhibited his series Pietre, Bisanzio, Maglie e Derive, and Risuona l’Aria at his solo exhibition at the Museo Laboratorio d’Arte Contemporanea at La Sapienza University in Rome, curated by Fabio Briguglio.
In March 2000, he was appointed a Full Academician of the Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts and Letters of the Virtuosi al Pantheon. Also in 2000, in a major exhibition curated by Maurizio Calvesi and Augusta Monferini, he presented works from the 1990s to the 2000s in the rooms of Palazzo De Riso Gagliardi in Vibo Valentia. The retrospective highlighted some key phases of the artist’s work: in particular the Luce Formante series, Miniera del Sole, Rock Nero Sabbia, Pietre, Bisanzio, Geodi, Maglie e Derive, and Lo Specchio dei Pianeti, which, exhibited in the same venue, highlighted the evolution of his poetics, centered on perceptual disorientation, the allusion to three-dimensionality, and the reduction of material presence. In the same year, he held solo exhibitions at the Galleria Ronchini Arte Contemporanea in Terni, and Segni d’aria e di terra at Studio S in Rome. He also participated in BNL Una Banca per l’arte oltre il mecenatismo, Chiostro del Bramante, Rome, and in the IX Biennale d’Arte Sacra di S. Gabriele (TE). In 2001, he participated in the 8th Cairo International Biennial with several large works from the Meteora series; at the Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea in Ciampino, he exhibited Cosmogonia 2001—currently in the permanent collection of the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome—an installation composed of 70 canvases, each 60×50 cm, inspired by slow cosmic dynamism, with catalogue essays by Augusta Monferini and Lorenzo Canova. Subsequently, the same work was exhibited at the Brolo in Mogliano Veneto (TV). In 2003, curated by Maurizio Calvesi and Augusta Monferini, he organized the exhibition Metallica at the CAM Publishing House in Rome, presenting a series of installation-paintings on the theme of reflection and creating a floor mosaic in the large editorial room. At the end of the same year, commissioned by ACEA and the Municipality of Rome, he installed Meteora in the center of Piazza Re di Roma, a monumental work composed of six 8-meter-high prisms made of steel and lights. The sculpture is rendered mutable by a programmed lighting system that slowly shifts its chromatic range, from incandescent red to the astral cold of steel. Also in 2003, he participated in the exhibition curated by Lorenzo Canova, Futuro Italiano, at the European Parliament in Brussels, with the large-format works Metallica Verticale and Specchiante. In 2004, the National Museum of Art of Romania in Bucharest and the National Museum of Art of Moldova in Chisinau dedicated two major solo exhibitions to him, featuring works from 1990 to 2004. Critical essays by Maurizio Calvesi, Lorenzo Canova, Fabrizio D’Amico, Luigi Meneghelli, and Augusta Monferini were also published in the catalogue of the large-scale exhibition held that same year at the National Library Gallery in Seoul. In 2005, he participated in the Aichi World’s Fair, and his works from the Metallica Lunare, Bisanzio Lunare, and Moonlight series were presented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a traveling exhibition in the United States: in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and Washington, with a catalog essay by John Yau. In 2006, he was invited to the exhibitions Mito e Velocità, Scuderie del Kremlino in Moscow, curated by Massimo Scaringella, Natura e Metamorfosi, curated by Marisa Vescovo, at the Urban Planning Exhibition Center in Shanghai, and at the Creative Art Center – Beijing Millennium Art Museum. He returned to Italy to exhibit at the Galleria d’Arte Moderna G. Carandente in Spoleto. He is among the artists at Out Art, Arte Contemporanea at the Villa dei Quintili in Rome, curated by Eleonora Sgaravatti, and at Lights On, curated by Zaira Mis, at the Artiscope gallery in Brussels. The following year he participated in the exhibition Baltico Mediterraneo, Italia-Finlandia a Confronto, curated by Sergio Rossi, at the National Museum of Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome. In 2007, his works from the Farnesina Collection were exhibited in the traveling exhibition Viaggio nell’arte italiana 1950-80: cento opere dalla Collezione Farnesina, hosted in the cities of Sarajevo, Sofia, Budapest, and Bucharest, and one of his works became part of the permanent collection of the Galleria Civica di Arte Contemporanea Giuseppe Perricone in Erice (TP). In 2008 he returned to China with the exhibition Energie Sottili della Materia, curated by Marisa Vescovo, at the Urban Planning Exhibition Center in Shanghai and at the China National Academy of Painting in Beijing. He was subsequently invited to the exhibition Sconfinamenti, held at the National Museum of Castel Sant’Angelo in Rome. That same year, he participated in the 59th Michetti Prize, curated by Maurizio Calvesi, Anna Imponente, and Augusta Monferini, where he received the Dante Ruffini and Maddalena Pettirosso Purchase Award. In 2009, he exhibited in Dinamismo/Spazio/LuceNera – G. Balla, L. Fontana, R. Almagno, S. Sanna, curated by Lorenzo Canova, at the Museo Laboratorio dell’Università del Molise, Campobasso.
In 2010, the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei awarded him the prestigious Leonardo Paterna Baldizzi Prize for sculpture for his work Meteora. Also in 2010, he participated in the 54th Venice Biennale.
Sanna’s large-format works are present in the VAF-Stiftung Collection at the MART in Rovereto, where in 2011 he participated in: 1947–2010, Rediscovered Paths of Italian Art, VAF-Stiftung Collection, curated by Gabriella Belli and Daniela Ferrari.
In 2012, in the double solo exhibition La Luce Oscura della Materia, Sandro Sanna – Roberto Almagno, curated by Lorenzo Canova, at the Carlo Bilotti Museum in Rome, he exhibited his new cycle Primigenia and Origine, whose poetics seek to highlight two fundamental aspects of cosmic reality: the whole, which manifests itself first and foremost in its unitary and ecstatic simplicity, and the complexity of a multifaceted and labyrinthine universe that reveals itself when observed with scientific attention.
In 2013, he held a large solo exhibition titled Static Dynamism at the Pièce Unique Gallery in Beirut, Lebanon, under the patronage of the Italian Embassy, and Vibrant Universes, curated by Susanne Capolongo and Stefano Cortina with a critical essay by Marco Meneguzzo, at Galleria d’Arte Cortina, Milan. Also in 2013, he held the exhibition Origine – Bendini, Guerrini, Sanna, curated by Tiziana d’Achille, at Galleria Porta Latina, Rome. In 2014, on the occasion of the 65th edition of the Michetti Prize, he received the Dante Ruffini and Maddalena Pettirosso Award. That same year, he participated in the exhibition La Luce e L’Icona, curated by Lorenzo Canova, at the Basiliche Paleocristiane in Cimitile (Naples). In 2015, he exhibited at the Tralevolte Gallery in Rome: aMare, a 5-meter-high installation, an explicit reflection on the victims of the Mediterranean Sea, with a text by Alberto Dambruoso. He was also invited by Lorenzo Canova to the Vasto Prize, at the Scuderie di Palazzo Aragona, Vasto (CH). In 2016, he participated in the exhibition Fragili Eroi, curated by Roberto Gramiccia, at the Carlo Bilotti Museum, Rome. In 2017, he exhibited in the solo exhibition curated by Antonio Olaio, A Geometria da Natureza, at the Italian Cultural Institute in Lisbon. For the exhibition Il Cammino delle Certose, he presented two large installations, curated by Anna Imponente, at the Certosa di San Lorenzo, Padula (SA); again in 2017, the solo exhibition Alcuni Indizi, with a text by Massimo Locci, at Studio Presta / Timia Editrice, Rome.
In 2018, the evocative exhibition La luce diversa, Catania, Palmieri, Sanna, curated by Anna Imponente, formerly of the Mattatoio Testaccio, Pavilion A, Rome, was held. Here, the artist presented a new series of large-format works on the theme of semblance and metamorphosis, emerging from the darkness. In 2019, he was among the artists in the traveling exhibition La Collezione Farnesina in India, India Art Fair 2019, New Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai. Also in 2019, he created the site-specific work Sembiante 12 for the exhibition Verso l’Aleph in Naples, Anselmo – Bassiri – Mottola – Palmieri – Sanna, Museo e Certosa di San Martino, Naples, curated by Anna Imponente; for the exhibition Atelier at the MACRO on Via Nizza in Rome, he presented a photographic installation with audio, in which the artist spoke to the public with Autoritratto (Self-Portrait). In December of the same year, at the invitation of Marco Tirelli, she participated in Contrappunti 2, curated by Bianca Pedace, Stazione di Posta di San Gemini (TR); at the Academy of Fine Arts in Frosinone, she participated in Allunare Infinito, curated by Alberto Dambruoso, exactly fifty years after the first moon landing. 2020, WOMAHR Women Art Human Rights for Peace, curated by Lorenzo Canova, Palazzo ex GIL, Campobasso, Crocetti Foundation, Rome and United Nations Headquarters, New York. Together In One Sign, Room 1, Rome. 2021, Dante 700, One Hundred Artists Draw the Divine Comedy, MoCo Museum (Montpellier Contemporain), Montpellier. The Other Works, Artists Collecting Artists, Napoleonic Museum, Rome. Sandro Sanna – Light, Matter, Space, Open Studio, curated by Arabella Morabito, Rome. In 2022, L’Osteria dei Pittori, Galleria La Nuova Pesa, Rome. In 2023, E la Mia Terra è Dove L’erba Trema, 45 contemporary artists reinterpret the work of Rocco Scotellaro, curated by G. Appella, Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome. He is present at La Crociata dei bambini, Artists for disarmament, curated by Roberto Gramiccia, Villa Lazzaroni, Rome. During the presentation of issue 43 of the magazine VIVA in carne e ossa, he previewed the animated short film “Selvaggia Promessa,” at Galleria La Nuova Pesa, Rome. In 2024/25, he will have a solo exhibition with Sandro Sanna and Donato Piccolo, “VISUAL TRAPS – Slide In Between Atoms,” a large retrospective curated by Ying Jinfei and Shu Wenjing, Zhejiang Art Museum – Hangzhou, China.
In May 2026, he is scheduled to participate in the 61st International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale and have a solo exhibition at the Bartoli Felter Foundation in Cagliari.
The artist’s works are present in public and private collections, including: the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome, the MACRO in Rome, the Permanent Collection of the Farnesina MAECI-Rome, Palazzo Venezia in Rome, the BNL Collection in Rome, the MART in Rovereto, the VAF-Stiftung Foundation in Frankfurt, and the ZHEJIANG ART MUSEUM – Hangzhou, China.
Sandro Sanna has been written about by:
- Airos, V. Apuleo, Alan G. Artner, P. Baldi, P. Balmas, E. Bilardello, F. Briguglio, M. Calvesi, L. Canova, A. Capaccio, S. Capolongo, L. Caramel, M. Carboni, C. Carlino, V. Ciarallo, A. Dambruoso, Jessica Dawson, T. D’Achille, F. D’Amico, F. D’Arelli, M. De Candia, N. Encolpio, L. Fantò, D. Ferrari, M. G. Ferrarini, P. Ferri, G. Franceschetti, M. Gallo, S. Guarino, D. Guzzi, A. Imponente, A. Iori, Ying Jinfei, Soh Joo, M. Locci, L. Mango, F. La Manna, L. Mattarella, L. Meneghelli, M. Meneguzzo, A. Monferini, M. Novi, Raluca Patru, B. Pedace, V. Perna, F. Pirani, Fresia Rodriguez Cadavid, S. Rossi, F. Ruggeri, N. Sani, S. Schiesaro, P. Serra Zanetti, F. Simongini, G. Simongini, C. Siniscalco, L. Tallarico, M. Vescovo, E. Vitaliano, Paula Voicu, John Yau, R. Zuccaro.