Luca Pignatelli

Luca Pignatelli (born 22 June 1962) is an Italian artist.

Biography[]

Luca Pignatelli was born in 1962 in Milan, where he currently lives and works in a home studio, self- designed based on a pre-existing industrial building.

His work focuses on a constant process of gathering, recovery and elaboration of history and art. He combines and reworks a wide iconographic archive of universal images, both abstract and figurative, from antique and contemporary scenes, which the art critic Achille Bonito Oliva defined “Theatre of memory”.

Since the beginning of his artistic career, in 1987,^[1] Pignatelli has painted his now famous Roman and Greek statues, classical heads of Aphrodite and Diana, mythological figures of gods, heroes and emperors, besides skylines of New York skyscrapers, Renaissances squares, Alpine landscapes and icons of modernity such as Second-World-War airplanes, ocean-liners and steam trains.^[2]

Luca Pignatelli’s artistic journey is underpinned by his own fascination and exploration of archaeology and mythology.^[3] (…) From the faces of Attic statues to a Sixties Ferrari (…) Pignatelli could have been a film-maker, but he is an artist of material things”.^[4]

Pignatelli is also renowned for his research and use of railway wagon tarpaulins, woods, papers, metals and rugs: diverse and recovered materials which he reworks through tears, cuts and stitchings.

Since the Eighties he has become firmly established and his work has been exhibited in Italy and internationally, hosted by prestigious museums, showcasing impressive large-scale paintings and site-specific installations.

Among his exhibitions we cite: in 2009, his solo show “Atlantis” at Musée d’Art Modern et Contemporain in Nice and the participation to the Italian Pavilion at the 53rd Venice Biennale.^[5] In 2011, his works was exhibited in Rome at the National Institute for Graphic Art.^[6]

In 2014 the Capodimonte Museum in Naples hosted his show titled “Luca Pignatelli”, resulting in the donation of the large-scale painting Pompei to the permanent contemporary art collection of the museum.^[7] The Uffizi Gallery in Florence hosted “Migrants”^[8] in the Vasari Corridor in 2015.

Most recently, after John Currin’s and Glenn Brown’s monographic retrospectives, Bardini Museum in Florence hosted “Senza Data”, a breakthrough exhibition specifically conceived for the halls of the museum.

Through the decades the artist has received a wide recognition from the art world and respected critics have written about his artworks, including Donald Kuspit, Achille Bonito Oliva, Sergio Risaliti, Carlo Arturo Quintavalle, Marina Fokidis.

Work[]

Pignatelli's imagination feeds on antiquities, nature, and the connection between the concepts of Time and History. While his first production conveyed the perception of a looming menace, of the quiet moment announcing a disaster,^[9] his later work is often characterized by a sense of universality and a more complex historical reflection.

The City and the History of Art represent for the artist a sort of permanent setting to human events, but nonetheless a dimension where Pignatelli engages his artistic research, operating analogies as well as modifications.

The artist is driven to visit warehouses, storage areas, military depots and large building sites, towards which he has always harbored an attraction and curiosity.

He is fascinated by the anonymous architectures of port cities, with their construction sites and movement of goods; by the works of Vignola, Loos and Mies van der Rohe, encountered during his travels across European cities; by Milan, his native city and place of choice; and with New York, where he sojourned for long periods since 1986.

Exhibitions[]

Solo exhibitions[]

• "In un luogo dove gli opposti stanno", a cura di Sergio Risaliti. Galleria Poggiali, Firenze (2019);
• Luca Pignatelli, Villa La Versiliana, Marina di Pietrasanta (2019);
• "MuseOgrafica", Stamperia d'Arte Albicocco, Udine (2019);
• Senza Data, Stefano Bardini Museum, Florence (2019);
• Luca Pignatelli – Persepoli. Riflessi del residuo. La Fenice Theatre, Venice (2017);
• Luca Pignatelli – Giorgio Conti Foundation (Cucchiari Palace), Carrara (2017);
• Luca Pignatelli – Blue Note/Works on paper, GAM Galleria civica d’arte moderna e contemporanea, Turin (2015);
• Luca Pignatelli – Migranti, Uffizi Gallery, Florence (2015);
• Luca Pignatelli – Capodimonte Museum, Naples (2014);
• Luca Pignatelli – Off Paper, M77 Gallery, Milan (2014);
• Luca Pignatelli – Icons Unplugged, National Institute for Graphic Art, Rome (2011);
• Luca Pignatelli – Sculture/Analogie, Poggiali e Forconi Gallery, Florence (2010);
• Luca Pignatelli – Atlantis, MAMAC, Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain, Nice (2009);
• Luca Pignatelli – National Archeological Museum, Naples (2008);
• Luca Pignatelli – Paintings, India Theatre, Rome (2007);

Collective exhibitions[]

• "REVOLUTIONS 1989-2019. L'arte del mondo nuovo 30 anni dopo", a cura di Luca Beatrice, con la collaborazione di Corinne Carbone e Roberta Pagani. Castel Sismondo, Rimini (2019);
• "L'immagine è necessaria", Stamperia d'arte Albicocco, Udine (2019);
• Porti Possibili. Sei artisti per l'accoglienza - Santa Giulia Museum, Brescia (2019);
• Ascoltare bellezza, Biblioteca Classense - Sala del mosaico, Ravenna (2018);
• WORK IN PROGRESS. San Patrignano, la collezione, La Triennale di Milano, Milano (2018);
• Mediterraneo lo specchio dell'altro, Palazzo Reale, Milano (2018);
• Arte contro la corruzione, Casa Testori Associazione Culturale, Novate Milanese (2017);
• Imago Mundi - Contemporary Artist from Italy at Cini Foundation in Venice e Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin (2015);
• Fuoco nero – Materia e struttura dopo Burri, Palazzo della Pilotta, Parma (2014);
• Ri-conoscere Michelangelo, Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence (2014);
• The Jerusalem Foundation – Coexistence, Musei MAXXI, Rome (2010);
• Opere scelte, MACRO Museum, Rome (2007);
• 50° International Art exhibition, Venice Biennal, Mostre Extra 50 (2003);
• Sui Generis, PAC – Contemporary Art Pavilion, Milan (2000);
• Tokyo Travelling Exhibition, International Forum, Tokyo (1997); XII Quadriennale, Roma (1996);

Other projects[]

Luca Pignatelli is often invited to participate in conferences and debates about art and architecture in universities and institutions. Some of his latest lectures include:

• Galleria M77, Milan, May 2017, "The idea of a sustainable revolution". Speakers: Luca Pignatelli, Luca Beatrice, Michele Bonuomo.
• Politecnico di Milano, January 2015, "Distruction of Construction". Speaker: Luca Pignatelli.
• Naples' Academy of Fine Arts, May 2014, "The sense of classical in contemporary art". Speaker: Luca Pignatelli.

Bibliography[]

• Luca Pignatelli. Senza Data. Catalogue of the exhibition curated by Sergio Risaliti (Stefano Bardini Museum, Florence, january 25 - march 25, 2019), Florence, Forma Edizioni, 2019.
• Luca Pignatelli, Migranti. Catalogue of the exhibition curated by Antonio Natali, Arturo Carlo Quintavalle, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, 2015.
• Arturo Carlo Quintavalle, Fuoco Nero – Materia e struttura attorno e dopo Burri, Palazzo della Pilotta, Parma, Skira, 2014.
• Achille Bonito Oliva, Michele Bonuomo, Angela Tecce, Fabrizio Vona, Luca Pignatelli, Catalogue of the exhibition at Museo di Capodimonte, Napoli, Arte’m Editore, Napoli, 2014.
• Luca Beatrice, Marina Fokidis, Maria Antonella Fusco, Antonella Renzitti, Salvatore Veca, Icons Unplugged, Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Roma, Allemandi Editore, Torino, 2011.
• Marina Fokidis, Luca Pignatelli – Sculture/Analogie, Galleria Poggiali e Forconi, Firenze, Arnoldo Mosca Mondadori Editore Milano, 2010.
• Achille Bonito Oliva, Luca Pignatelli, Catalogue of the exhibition at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, Electa, 2007.
• Achille Bonito Oliva, Luca Pignatelli – Paintings , Charta, Milano, 2007.
• Donald Kuspit, Luca Pignatelli – Between Reverie and Dream, The Focus Group, New York, 2000.

References[]