An artist trained in the Turin environment of the mid-sixties, Piacentino participated in the first exhibitions of the Arte Povera current, exhibiting in 1966 in the Turin gallery of Enzo Sperone and participating in the 1968 exhibition “Prospect ’68” at the Kunsthalle in Düsseldorf. In these years he created large sculptures in wood coated with polyester and painted with metallic or lacquered colors, which reflect everyday objects, such as tables, stairs and fixtures. He continues to work on industrial materials, from metals to paints, in view of a constant verification of their expressive and formal potential. Experimenting them, first of all, on himself: from 1971 to 1977 in fact he rides on racing motorcycles that he himself decorates; meanwhile, the first minimalist structures, created since the end of the sixties, are translated into forms increasingly aimed at celebrating the dynamism of machines, the myth of speed, engines and movement, recalling cars, bicycles, motorcycles, aircraft. In fact, in his sculptures he assembles pieces of airplanes and cars which he then calls “Trophy”, “Vehicle”, “Race”.