Born in 1947 in Leonforte in the province of Enna (Sicily), Salvo relocated to Turin in 1956. Here he engaged first in a conceptual practice connected to the Turin Arte Povera movement and inspired also by international figures such as Sol LeWitt, Robert Barry and Joseph Kosuth. In 1973 he returned to painting – as in the very early years of artistic training – despite the fact that in the 1970s painting was an unfashionable mode of artistic creation. In this second phase of his artistic career, that would last until his death in 2015, he consistently developed central themes and concerns, such as the relationship with tradition and with the past, and the revisitation of art history.

Salvo’s works have been exhibited in numerous solo shows at institutions including: MACRO, Rome, 2021; Museo d’Arte della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, 2017; Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Torino, 2007; Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea di Bergamo, 2002; Villa delle Rose, Bologna, 1998; Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, and Musée d’Art Contemporain, Nîmes, 1988; Kunstmuseum, Luzern, 1983; Museum Folkwang, Essen, and Mannheimer Kunstverein, 1977.

Photo by Annemarie Sauzeau, courtesy of Agata Boetti