Paolo Masi's activity is closely linked to continuous experimentation on how to work and transform materials; for Masi, artistic action is something that is always in fieri, which from time to time opens up to new insights and new solutions.
His first solo exhibition in 1960 at the Strozzina in Florence was followed by numerous exhibitions in major Italian and European galleries: Numero (Florence), Cenobio (Milan), L'Aquilone (Florence), Schema (Florence), Christian Stein (Turin), Lydia Megert (Bern), d+c Mueller Roth (Stuttgart), Thomas Keller (Munich), Primo Piano (Rome), La Polena (Genoa), Ariete (Milan), La Piramide (Florence), Centro d'Arte Spaziotempo (Florence), Galleria Studio G7 (Bologna), Fondazione Mudima (Milan).
After his confrontation with post-informal experimentation and research in the field of abstraction and Neo-Concretism, he approached the contextual analytical-reductive experiences, breaking down and reorganising on the floor and against the walls aluminium rods, mirrors, wires or small slats of coloured Plexiglas that extend the rhythmicity of 'colour-space' to the third dimension.
He returned to two-dimensionality through the project Rilevamenti esterni - conferme interne [External Surveys – Internal Confirmations] (1974-76), developed outdoors with Polaroid photos of manhole covers, walls and floors begun in 1974 in New York and, at the same time, inside the studio with Tessiture [Weavings] (stitched raw canvas) and Cartoni da imballaggio [Packing Cartons], where he used transparent and opaque adhesives for the first time, bringing out the internal structure of the material.
In 1974, Masi co-founded, together with Maurizio Nannucci and Mario Mariotti, a collective that managed the non-profit Zona space in Florence, an experience that was to be continued in 1998 in the Base collective. Also worth mentioning are his participations in I colori della pittura. Una situazione europea [The Colours of Painting. A European Situation] (curated by Italo Mussa, Rome 1976), at the XXXVIII Venice Biennial (1978); at the XI Rome Quadrennial (1986); at the exhibitions Kunstlerbücher in Frankfurt and Erweiterte Photographie Wiener Secession in Vienna (1980); at the Paris exhibition Livres d'artistes at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (1985); Arte in Toscana 1945-2000 [Art in Tuscany] at Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, and Palazzo Fabroni, Pistoia (2002); Pittura Analitica. I percorsi italiani 1970-1980 [Analitic Painting. Italian paths 1970-1980] at the Museo della Permanente, Milan (2007) and the exhibition Alla Maniera d'Oggi. Base a Firenze [At the Manner of Today. Base in Florence] at the Chiostro di San Marco, Florence (2010); the solo shows at Bludenz, at the Museo d'Arte Contemporanea in Lissone, at the Fondazione Mudima in Milan; La Torre di Babele [Babel Tower] at the Ex fabbrica Lucchesi, Prato (2016); Versus. La sfida dell'artista al suo modello in un secolo di fotografia e disegno [Versus. The artist's challenge to his model in a century of photography and drawing] at the Galleria civica, Modena (2016); The Independent. Base / Projects for Art, at Maxxi, Rome (2016); Pittura Analitica. Ieri e oggi [Analitical Painting. Yesterday and Today] at the Mazzoleni Art Gallery, London - Turin (2017).
In 2013, on the occasion of the exhibition held at Frittelli arte contemporanea in Florence, the first comprehensive monograph on the artist, entitled Paolo Masi. La responsabilità dell'occhio [Paolo Masi. Responsability of the eye] by Flaminio Gualdoni was published by Gli Ori.
In 2014, Masi presented the installation Riflessioni Riflesse [Reflected reflections] in the cloister of the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan, in the Sala Albertini of the Corriere della Sera, in the courtyard of the Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio in Bologna (2015), in Piazza San Fedele in Milan (2016) and the work Camminate come figli della luce [Walk as children of light] in the Church of Sant'Eufemia in Verona (2016).
In 2018, two important solo exhibitions: at the MAGA Museum in Gallarate (VA), the anthological exhibition Paolo Masi. Doppio Spazio [Paolo Masi. Double Space] curated by Lorenzo Bruni. In Florence, at Le Murate. Progetti Arte Contemporanea, the exhibition Paolo Masi Qui [Paolo Masi Here] consisted of 12 monumental works specially conceived and created for the former Florentine prison. In 2021, the artist's most recent works, an unpublished series of newly created large-scale packing cardboards, were exhibited in the solo show Paolo Masi. Dalle mani alle mani [Paolo Masi. From hands to hands], curated by Flaminio Gualdoni, at Frittelli arte contemporanea, Florence. Also here in 2023, on the occasion of his 90th birthday, the solo exhibition Paolo Masi. Opere degli anni Ottanta [Paolo Masi. Paintings from the Eighties], curated by Fabio Cavallucci. In addition organized by the Base collective another tribute exhibition entitled Masi 90. The artist was also paid homage by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation with the personal exhibition organised by the Italian Cultural Institute of Bratislava, at the Civic Museum of the city of Žilina, in Slovakia.
Masi's historical works can be found in the collections of the Mart in Rovereto, the Pecci Museum in Prato, the Galleria d'Arte Moderna of Palazzo Pitti in Florence, the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Turin and the Museo Novecento in Florence.
