This Roberto Barni retrospective, which included paintings, drawings, and sculptures from 1960 to the present, was splendidly organized by Alberto Boatto, a critic and writer who has followed Barni’s work for a number of years. The show’s tone was set by a selection of photographs from the early ’60s—many of which were shown for the first time—portraying Barni as a young man in playful and ironic poses: dressed as a knight with an open umbrella for a shield and a funnel for a helmet, or standing next to a poster that announces his untimely death.

Early in his career Barni began creating works