Vasco Bendini was born in Bologna in 1922.
In the 50s he started exhibiting with solo shows at the Gallery La Torre in Florence (1953), introduced by Francesco Arcangeli; at the Galleria del Milione in Milan (1956,1958); Attico in Rome (1959, 1961, 1963, 1966, 1978, 1980); and at the beginning of the 60s, at Apollinaire in Milan (1961) and Macroberts & Tunard in London (1963).
In 1956 he participated in the XXVIII Venetian Biennial where in 1972, respectively for the XXXII and XXXVI edition, he obtained a personal showroom.
In 1965 the “Sentimento come storia” and “Senso operante” series started, in which he began to search for new expressive techniques to be concluded in the first months of 1966 with a solo show in the Attico of Rome, introduced by Giulio Carlo Argan.
The same critic, together with Maurizio Calvesi, introduced in Rome at Palazzo Taverna the “Oggetti e processi” show by Inarch (1968).
His great shows at the Art Institute of the Parma University and at the Municipality of Alessandria took place in 1973 when he moved to Rome, together with a solo show at the Galleria Pietra of Milan, introduced by Giovanni Castagnoli.
Other shows followed at The museum of Modern Art of Saarbrucken (1976) and at the gallery of Modern Art of Bologna, with texts curated by Renato Barilli and Sandro Sproccati (1978).
In the 80s and 90s works Bendini performed a disenchanted and completed questioning of his whole existential cycle recalling his dazzling intuitions of the 50s, clear and essential, both the objective and behavioural complexity of the 60s.
In 1984 Gino Baratta and Francesco Bartoli organized a great retrospective at the House of Mantegna in Mantua and, in 1989 Fabrizio D’Amico curated at the Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea in Milan an important exhibition of the Fifties and Eighties. Of main interest was the retrospective at Palazzo Forti curated by Lorenzo Canova in the city of Verona and the solo show “Segni come sogni” at the La Giarina Gallery, curated by Cesare Vivaldi in 1989. In 1992 great importance was given to his triple exhibition at the Galleria Civica of Modena, at the Galleria d’Arte Contemporanea of Bologna and the Galleria Civica of Trento (texts by Flaminio Gualdoni, Danilo Eccher and Walter Guadagnini).
In 1996 two wide solo shows opened: the first at the Loggetta Lombardesca of Ravenna and the second one with only lithographic works, at the Istituto Nazionale della Grafica of Rome. In ’97 Roberto Pasini reproposed the artist’s importance in the Fifties at the Galleria Art 92 of Milan. Relevant retrospectives opened at the Museo Laboratorio di Arte Contemporanea of the Università degli Studi La Sapienza of Rome, curated by Maurizio Calvesi (1998); at the Palazzo Sarcinelli of Conegliano, with texts by Walter Guadagnini, Marco Goldin and Rosalba Zuccaro (1999); and finally at the Castle of Masnago, Varese (2001).
In 2000 he was one of the artists selected by Calvesi for the great show “Novecento, arte e storia in Italia”, by the Papal Stables, Rome.
Two of his works were exhibited at the “La pittura degli anni Cinquanta in Italia” organized in the Galleria d’Arte Moderna of Turin (may-june 2003) and, in the same year 2003, a wide retrospective opened at Lissone Museum, curated by Gualdoni and a solo show at the Bocchi Museum of Parma, curated by Ivo Iori and with an essay by Giampiero Moretti. In autumn 2005 recent works were introduced at The Galleria de’Foscherari of Bologna. In march 2006 he participated with four pieces of the early Fifties in the retrospective “Dal Romanticismo all’Informale- omaggio a Francesco Arcangeli”, curated by Claudio Spadoni, at the Art Museum of Ravenna. In june 2006 he was invited at the retrospective “Astrattismo italiano – 1910 – 1970” which took place in the National Archaeological Museum of the Abruzzi, Chieti; and in July the same year he was present with works of the Fifties in the group show “Una natura altra” organized in the Carmine Monastery of Marsala (Trapani).
In september of the same year Gabriele Simongini curated the retrospective “L’immagine accolta” introducing works from 1951 to 2006 in the Roman Gallery Casa d’arte Ulisse. Together with the catalogue a monographic text by Edoardo Piersensini entitled “Fra il nulla e l’infinito”. In october 2006 Giorgio Cortenova introduced another retrospective in the catalogue “Il respiro della materia” at the Galleria La Giarina of Verona.
In February 2007 Maurizio Calvesi introduced the retrospective “Vasco Bendini – Opere 1950-2006” at the Galleria Frittelli Arte Contemporanea of Florence.
In February 2008 “Malia dell’enigma” curated by Bruno Corà at the Galleria Niccoli of Parma.
Since 1999 he has been living and working between Parma and Rome.