Bruna Esposito was born in 1960 in Rome, where she lives and works today. She received her diploma in fine arts in 1979 and studied mosaic at CISIM in Carrara in 1990. She studied aerial dance with Batya Zamir in 1982 and minimal dance with Sally Gross in 1986 in New York. Esposito participated in the Whitney Museum’s ISP in New York in 1985.

Her works are multi-material and sensorial, engaging the senses of smell, sound, and touch: sculptures, videos, installations, performances, actions, site-specific projects, drawings, photographs, and collages. Allusive and at times ironic, Esposito’s works are realized with simple and ordinary materials and techniques and evoke the strength found in fragility.

While having since returned to her native Rome, Esposito has also lived in New York and West Berlin, and collaborated with artists, dancers, poets, and musicians. Recent events and exhibitions include Au rendez-vous des Amis, Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini Collezione Burri, Città di Castello (2015); iNNatural, Made in Finlandia, Pieve a Presciano, Arezzo (2015); inconveniente, FL Gallery, Milan (2014); La Gioia, Maison Particulière art center, Paris (2014); Distanze, Camere XX, Ram, Rome (2014); Nell’acqua capisco, a collateral exhibition at the 55th Venice Biennale (2013); Foto di gruppo, MACRO, Rome (2013); Preserving and exhibiting media art, MAXXI, Rome (2013); and Sassi Cantori, Museo d’Arte per Bambini, Santa Maria della Scala, Siena (2013).

Remo Salvadori was born in Cerreto Guidi, in the province of Florence, in 1947. He currently lives and works in Milan.

An exponent of the generation following Arte Povera and Conceptual Art, Salvadori opens up a new space in the conception and formulation of the work, in which art is experienced as a “revelation”. The attention directed towards time and space in his work, as in his own life, intersects with reflections upon the essence of color, on the nature of pure metal, and on the role of the observer.

Salvadori’s important solo exhibitions include those at the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice (2005); Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato (1997); Magasin, Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Grenoble (1991); and the Italian Cultural Institute and The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (1987). In terms of group exhibitions, Salvadori has participated in Trame, at the Triennale di Milano (2014); Tridimensionale, MAXXI, Rome (2012); Happiness: A Survival Guide for Art and Life, inaugural exhibition at the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, (2003); Arte italiana 1945-1995, Nagoya, Tokyo, Tottori and Hiroshima, (1997-1998); the Venice Biennale (1982, 1986, 1993); Documenta, Kassel (1982, 1992); Chambres d’amis, Ghent (1986), Correspondentie Europa, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1986); Ouverture II, Castello di Rivoli, Rivoli (1986); and The European Iceberg, The Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (1985).

Paolo Canevari was born in Rome in 1963 and currently lives in New York. Canevari has, since his first solo show in Rome in 1991, engaged in a dialogue with his own background and education in classical culture and his upbringing in a family of artists. He is one of few Italian artists of his generation to be recognized internationally.

Using different kinds of materials and media like animation, drawing, video, and installation, Canevari presents easily recognizable objects to comment on themes like religion, the urban myths of happiness, and the major principles behind creation and destruction. Trained as a sculptor, he approaches his work as a means through which to convert a passive state of mind into an energetic, creative act. His adoption of the use of video springs from his desire to make images that are ephemeral but still visually striking. His recent video works can be understood as a form of ephemeral sculpture that rejects the rhetoric of eternal monuments.

Canevari has presented his work at major institutions worldwide, including the XIII Esposizione la Quadriennale d’Arte, Rome (2000); Palazzo delle Papesse, Siena (2001); the Center for Academic Resources, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok (2001); the Liverpool Biennial (2004); Johannesburg Art Gallery-Contemporary Art Museum, Johannesburg (2005); the Kunst-Werke Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2006); PS1 Center for Contemporary Art, New York (2004, 2007); Museo d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (MART), Rovereto (2005); Museo d’Arte Contemporanea (MACRO), Rome (2007); the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007); MoMA, New York (2008; his video “Bouncing Skull” is part of the permanent collection there); and Istituto Nazionale per la Grafica, Rome (2008). In 2010, Germano Celant curated a mid-career retrospective at Centro Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato. Canevari has also had solo exhibitions at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome (2010) and at The Drawing Center, New York (2011).

 

 

Domenico Bianchi was born in Rome in 1955, where he lives and works today. He attended the city’s Accademia di Belle Arti, and at age 22 made his debut with a solo exhibition at the Fine Arts Building in New York. In the years that followed, his work was shown at the Galerie Swart in Amsterdam, Yvon Lambert in Paris, Salvatore Ala in Milan and New York, Gian Enzo Sperone in Rome and New York, Lars Bohman Gallery in Stockholm, L.A. Louver Gallery in Los Angeles, Galleria Christian Stein in Turin and Milan, Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac in Salzburg, and Galería Gianni Giacobbi and Pelaires in Palma de Mallorca.

While Bianchi’s work demands to be considered abstract, it demonstrates a different attitude toward the art of the past compared to various radicalizations of the artistic process by other avant-garde artists. Bianchi maintains, namely, a “profound appreciation for the conceptual value of the symbolic form.”

Bianchi’s first museum exhibition was at the Museo di Rivoli in 1989. He exhibited in the Italian Pavilion at the 45th Venice Biennale (1993), in Arte e Alchimia in the 42nd Venice Biennale (1986), and in Aperto 84 at the 41st Venice Biennale (1984). Additional museum exhibitions include those at Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Villa delle Rose, Bologna (1993); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (1994); Centro Arti Visive, Pesaro (2002); and Museo d’Arte Contemporanea (MACRO), Rome (2003). Bianchi has completed several permanent public works of art: at Naples Metro Station/Stazione Materdei (2003); Castello Svevo, Bari (2004); and the Limonaia Grande del Giardino di Boboli, Florence (2014). Over the past three decades he has also participated in numerous international group exhibitions.

Massimo Bartolini was born in 1962 in Cecina, in the province of Livorno, where he lives and works today. Special projects executed by the artist include Library, Henry Moore Foundation, Leeds (1996); Untitled (Wave), MoMA P.S.1, New York (2001); Laboratorio di Storia e Storie, Mirafiori, Turin (2007); Anche oggi niente, MAXXI, Rome (2008); Caude e fridu, Manifesta 12, collateral event, Palermo, Italy (2018).

In 1993 Bartolini had his first solo shows at Galleria Artra and Untitled in Milan and at Francesca Sorace’s house in Florence. Other solo shows over the past decade include those at Fondazione Merz, Turin (2017); Museo Marino Marini, Florence (2015); Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh (2013); SMAK, Ghent (2013); Frith Street Gallery, London (2008, 2013); ICA, Sofia (2010); Magazzino Arte Moderna, Rome (2009); Museu Serralves, Porto (2009); Massimo De Carlo Gallery, Milan (2008); D’Amelio Terras, New York (2007); Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2007); GAM, Turin (2005); and Abteiberg Museum, Mönchengladbach (2003).

Bartolini has also participated in a number of group shows including the 2nd Yinchuan Biennale, Yinchuan, China (2018); Kathmandu Triennale, Nepal (2017); Emscherkunst, Castrop-Rauxel-Ickern, Germany (2016); the 48th, 49th (collateral events), 53rd, and 55th Venice Biennale, (1999, 2001, 2009, 2013); the 6th and 9th Shanghai Biennale (2006, 2012); One on One, Kunstwerke, Berlin (2012); Etchigo‑Tsumari Triennale, Tokamachi (2012); dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel (2012); Yokohama Trienniale, Yokohama (2011); the 28th Pontevedra Biennial (2006); Ecstasy, In and About Altered State, MOCA, Los Angeles (2005); Living Sculpture, MMK, Frankfurt am Main (2003); Manifesta 4, Frankfurt am Main (2002); San Paolo Biennale (2002); Squatters, Museu Serralves, Porto, Witte de With, Rotterdam (2001); Sonsbeek 9, Arnhem (2001); and TRUCE: Echoes of Art in an Age of Endless Conclusions, SITE, Santa Fe (1997).

Marco Bagnoli has long been a presence at major international exhibitions including the Venice Biennial (1982, 1993, 1997) and documenta in Kassel (1982 and 1992). From the mid-1970s to today, Marco Bagnoli has participated in group shows in Italy and abroad (X Biennale de Paris, Arte e Critica, Identité Italienne, The European Iceberg, Promenades, Ouverture, Soonsbeek, East meets West, Europa oggi, Periodi di Marmo, Minimalia, Belvedere dell’Arte). He has had solo exhibitions at prominent museum institutions like Castello di Rivoli, Magasin in Grenoble, De Appel in Amsterdam, the Center for Contemporary Art in Geneva, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Lyon, the IVAM in Valencia, and the Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci.

The artist has pursued his own very personal path, ahead of his time, creating site-specific installations in places of exceptional artistic, architectural, religious and spiritual places like the Pazzi Chapel in Florence, the Villa Medicea dei Cento Camini in Artimino, the Sala Ottagonale della Fortezza da Basso in Florence, the Church of San Miniato al Monte in Florence, and the City Hall of Siena. His works can be found in important international collections, and permanent installations of his pieces have been commissioned by public institutions and private patrons.

Most recently, Bagnoli has exhibited three shows of note in Italy: La voce: Nel giallo faremo una scala o due al bianco invisibile (The voice: in the yellow we shall make a ladder or two in invisible white), Museo Madre, Naples (2014-2015); AttoRitratto. Opera scenica, Central aisle of the Stazione Leopolda, Fabbrica Europa, the XXI edition, Florence (2014); Araba Fenice (Arabian Phoenix) in the Limonaia Grande of the Boboli Gardens, Palazzo Pitti, Florence (2013).

Mario Airò was born in Pavia in 1961 and attended the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied with Luciano Fabro. In 1989, along with other young artists of Milan, he became involved with an artist-run space on Via Lazzaro Palazzi and with Tiracorrendo magazine, which hosted some lively debates. As a result, Airò is considered one of the most important artists of his generation in Italy, and is thought to be a very important bridge between the younger generation of Italian artists and the one that came before.

Airò’s work derives from what he defines as “wandering”. It is the experience of one who moves and speaks through the things he encounters by avoiding any kind of intellectual or formal closure. His installations spring from a wide range of cultural references, including literature, cinema, art history, and everyday objects. Every work by Mario Airò has a seductive effect that transforms the exhibition area into an absorbing and visionary mental space, ushering the spectator into a heavily emotional framework.

Airò’s recent solo exhibitions have taken place at Tucci Russo Studio per l’Arte Contemporanea in Turin (2014) and Vistamare Benedetta Spalletti in Pescara (2011). His work has also recently been featured in group shows like Syntony of Sound and Images, Zerynthia Associazione per l’Arte Contemporanea, Rome (2014); Projections, MAXXI, Rome (2012); 16 Artists for TVS, Arte Fiera Art First, Bologna (2011); and Terre Vulnerabili: True Solutions Come From the Bottom Up, Hangar Bicocca Art Space, Milan (2010).

Stefano Arienti was born in Asola in the province of Mantua in 1961. After earning a degree in agricultural studies, he turned to art under the guidance of Corrado Levi, and made his debut in Milan in the mid-Eighties at the Brown Boveri (a former factory that many young artists used as a gathering place for free experimentation).

Arienti currently lives and works in Milan. He uses “poor” and everyday materials, which often include paper, books, pictures taken from postcards, posters or photocopies, as well as polystyrene, plastic, plasticine, and fabrics. Arienti’s works surprise the viewer and invite him to reflect on the concept of “wonder;” they sometimes manipulate the viewer and prompt him to participate.

He has participated in numerous shows over the past three decades: the Venice Biennale (Aperto 1990, 1993); the Istanbul Biennial (1992); Cocido y Crudo, Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid (1994); XII Rome Quadrennial, 1996 (first prize winner); Fatto in Italia, Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva (1997); ICA, London (1997); and Gwangju Biennale (2008). Arienti’s most recent solo exhibitions have included those at MAXXI, Rome (2004); Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2005); Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston (2007); Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venice (2008); MAMbo, Bologna (with Cesare Pietroiusti, 2008); Palazzo Ducale, Mantua (2009); and Museion, Bolzano (with Massimo Bartolini, 2011).

Francesco Arena was born in Torre Santa Susanna, in the province of Brindisi, in 1978. He now lives and works in Cassano delle Murge in the province of Bari.

History provides Arena’s work with a point of departure: he draws inspiration from political and social realities of the recent past. Overlooked, forgotten, or hushed up episodes take on a new life in the synthetic and metaphorical forms that characterize Arena’s sculptures.

The artist has had several recent solo exhibitions, including 7, 1, 4, Galleria Raffaella Cortese, Milan (2015); 3 Ludwig reflections and 1 horizon, NoguerasBlanchard, Madrid (2014); Onze mille cent quatre-vingt sept jours, Frac Champagne-Ardenne, Reims (2013); Orizzonte con riduzione di Mare, Monitor, Rome (2013); Trittico 57, Project Room, Museion, Bolzano (2012); Com’è piccola Milano, Peep Hole, Milano (2011); Art Statement, Art Basel (2010); and Teste, Fondazione Ermanno Casoli, Fabriano (2010). He has also participated in group exhibitions like Vice Versa, 55th Venice Biennale, Venice (2013); La storia che non ho vissuto, Castello di Rivoli, Rivoli (2012); The revolution must be made little by little | Part 2: The Squaring of the Circle, Galeria Raquel Arnaud, Saõ Paulo (2012); Sotto la Strada la Spiaggia, Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Torino (2012); and Il bel paese dell’arte, GAMeC, Bergamo (2011).