Manfredi Beninati is an Italian artist born in

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

(

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

) in 1970. A contemporary figurative painter, his oeuvre also covers installations, drawings, sculpture, collage and film.

Biography

After dropping out of both law and film school and collaborating with well-known Italian directors, Manfredi Beninati began working as an artist. He spent some time in Spain and England and, in 2002, when he came back to Italy, he began to make sculptures and figurative paintings that drew directly on real or imaginary childhood memories. Beninati first started studying law and then switched to film courses in the early 1990s while working as an assistant director in the Italian film industry. In 1994 he moved to London where he started working as a visual artist. In 2005 he was selected as one of four artists to represent his country at the 51 Venice Biennale where he received the audience award for the Italian pavilion. In 2006 he was given a fellowship at the American Academy in Rome as part of the

Rome Prize The Rome Prize is awarded by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy. Approximately thirty scholars and artists are selected each year to receive a study fellowship at the academy. Recipients must be American citizens. Prizes have been aw ...

. He currently lives and works in Palermo, Rome and

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

where, together with his wife Milena Muzquiz (of Los Super Elegantes) he has founded an

experimental theatre Experimental theatre (also known as avant-garde theatre), inspired largely by Richard Wagner, Wagner's concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, began in Western theatre in the late 19th century with Alfred Jarry and his Ubu Roi, Ubu plays as a rejection of bot ...

group. He is represented by James Cohan Gallery in New York, Tomio Koyama in Tokyo and Galleria Lorcan O'Neill in Rome. In 2014 Beninati had a solo show titled ''Nature is a Theatre'' at Inside-Out Art Museum in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

and in 2016 the Museo Civico in

Castelbuono Castelbuono ( Sicilian: ''Casteḍḍu-bonu'' or, locally, ''Castiḍḍubbuonu'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, Sicily (southern Italy). It is known for the castle from which its name derives, around which the ci ...

(Italy) has dedicated an anthological retrospective exhibition covering the first fifteen years of Beninati's work. Beninati is also a patron of Italian cultural heritage, organizing exhibitions, workshops, seminars and producing publications on Italian talents, through a foundation he and his mother set up in the memory of his younger brother Flavio. Recent projects he has curated include a series of talks on Italian design and a workshop on architecture icon

Aldo Rossi Aldo Rossi (3 May 1931 – 4 September 1997) was an Italian architect and designer who achieved international recognition in four distinct areas: architectural theory, drawing and design and also product design. He was one of the leading propone ...

held by American architect Thomas Tsang in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and

Exhibitions

*2016 "Dall'oggi al domani. 24 ore nell'arte contemporanea", MACRO, Rome, Italy *2012 "Double Take", 2nd Mardin Bienali,

Mardin Mardin (; ; romanized: ''Mārdīn''; ; ) is a city and seat of the Artuklu District of Mardin Province in Turkey. It is known for the Artuqids, Artuqid architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on a rocky hill near the Tigris ...

, Turkey *2009 "Heaven", 2nd Athens Biennale 2009, Athens, Greece *2008 "Made Up",

Liverpool Biennial Liverpool Biennial is the largest international contemporary art festival in the United Kingdom. Since its launch in 1998, Liverpool Biennial has commissioned over 380 new artworks and presented work by over 530 artists from around the world. ...

, Liverpool, U.K.

Collections

*Zabludowicz Collection, Sarvisalo, London, New York *Logan Collection, Denver *Lodeveans Collection, London *MAXXI - Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome *UBS Art Collection

Awards and residencies

*IOAM - Inside-Out Art Museum, Beijing, 2013 *Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship, 2010 Manfredi Beninati page in Civitella Ranieri Foundation's official website
/ref> *Rome Prize, American Academy in Rome, 2006 *Audience award – Italian pavilion, 51 Venice biennale, 2005 *Darc Prize for young Italian art, 2004

Writings

"Transhumanism according to Mr Campa"
I quaderni di Eccegrammi, 2015 * Manfredi Beninati

Liverpool biennial catalog, 2008 * Manfredi Beninati, "Une image fixe vous tient en dehors d'elle-meme", Ligeia, 2006
PDF in French

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beninati, Manfredi Artists from Palermo 1970 births Living people Italian contemporary painters Italian collage artists 21st-century Italian sculptors 21st-century Italian male artists Italian postmodern artists