Allargamento della referenzialità. Maurizio Nannucci / Maria Elisabetta Novello / Marco Tirelli

Galleria Fumagalli presents the seventh and second-to-last instalment of the exhibition program “MY30YEARS – Coherency in Diversity”, conceived by art historian Lóránd Hegyi on the occasion of Annamaria Maggi’s 30-year career at the helm of the gallery, and aimed at offering unprecedented comparisons between twelve artists followed or represented by the gallery.
“Allargamento della referenzialità” presents the dialogue between Maurizio Nannucci (Florence, 1939), Maria Elisabetta Novello (Vicenza, 1974) and Marco Tirelli (Rome, 1956). Although the works are the result of different generational experiences and manifest different aesthetic and intellectual approaches, their joint exhibition reveals the common trend to open up to many referential fields, that is, to multiple aspects of the artistic thought.
By presenting works created for the occasion and imbued with a metaphorical and romantic imagery, Maria Elisabetta Novello shows her interest in realizing a possible reconstruction of the spiritual unity of existence, through the collection of the signs of its passage. Taking up a chalcographic technique dating back to the mid-19th century named “fisiotipia”, the artist continues her exploration into the imprints of reality. With a botanical approach, not intended to replicate a mere scientific investigation, but instrumental in giving a new vision of things, Maria Elisabetta Novello is able to evoke emotionally suggestive embodiments of the wonder of nature and its mysterious power.
Through the radiant purity of the neon light and the multi-referential complexity of the texts, Maurizio Nannucci reveals his critical and interrogative approach to pre-established conceptual systems. In a rigorous and assertive way, he offers formulas that question the boarders between information and derived referential fields, proposing overbridging antagonisms and contradictions. In this sense, his oeuvre also reveals the legacy of intellectual Romanticism, providing a vision free from prejudices.
Marco Tirelli’s visual practice explores deep notional reservoirs in which intellectual and sensorial experiences, personal motions and cultural, historical and conventional narratives merge and create metaphorically rich combinations. His forms – apparently non-representational with their wide fields of dark tones – absorb memories of places and deep imaginations, suggesting a continuous search for orientation.
While Maurizio Nannucci focuses on the multi-layered message of his textual systems based on sharply formulated contra-poles and alternatives, the visual imagery created by Marco Tirelli promotes an amalgam of emotional and intellectual references in order to create a certain fluidity of vital and organic uncertainty.
Consisting of eight exhibitions and involving twelve artists from the gallery’s roster, the program “MY30YEARS - Coherency in Diversity” offers in each step the dialogue between three artists (each of whom is involved in the program twice) on specific themes. Aiming to overcome rigid and antiquated artistic categorizations, the program stimulates new interpretations of the languages and paradigms of contemporary art.

Biographies

Maurizio Nannucci was born in Florence in 1939, lives and works between his hometown and South Baden, Germany. Since the early 60s he has been analyzing the conceptual and perceptive aspect of language. Combining word, color and light – thanks to the introduction of neon in the late 60s – he generates an all-encompassing involvement of the viewer and opens up to new perspectives of perception (sensual and conceptual) and interaction with reality. Part of his artistic research is aimed at the diffusion of art: he is the founder of the self-managed spaces Zona (Florence, 1974-1985) and Base/Progetti per l'arte (Florence, since 1998), as well as author and collector of editions, records, and artist books. In the early 90s he started collaborations with internationally renowned architects such as Fritz Auer, Renzo Piano, Massimiliano Fuksas, Mario Botta, Nicolas Grimshaw, and Stephan Braunfels. He created numerous installations for institutions and public spaces, such as the Carpenter Center, Harvard University, Cambridge; Auditorium Parco della Musica, Rome; Bibliothek des Deutschen Bundestages and Altes Museum, Berlin; Kunsthalle, Vienna; Lenbachhaus Munich; Villa Arson, Nice; Peggy Guggenheim Foundation, Venice; MAMCO, Geneva; GAM, Turin; Hubbrücke, Magdeburg; Uffizi Gallery, Florence; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; MAXXI, Rome; Pilotta complex, Parma; ArtLine Milano – Contemporary Art Park, Milan.
He has been collaborating with Galleria Fumagalli since 2005, the year of his first solo exhibition "Neon Words" and his participation in “Visioni” at the former church of Sant’Agostino in Bergamo. In 2011 he conceived and participated in the exhibition "ACMN" (2011) dedicated to four masters of Italian conceptual art (Giovanni Anselmo, Enrico Castellani, Maurizio Mochetti and Nannucci himself). The second solo exhibition “What to see what not to see” dates back to 2017. In 2021 he was involved in the exhibition program “MY30YEARS – Coherency in Diversity” curated by Lóránd Hegyi, specifically in the second and seventh exhibition.

Maria Elisabetta Novello was born in Vicenza in 1974, lives and works in Udine. After studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, in 1999 she received a scholarship from the Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation. From the beginning, she has experimented with the practices of drawing, installation, and performance. Acting as a contemporary archaeologist, she identifies the tangible signs of fragility and the passage of time, through the collection and use of ephemeral and impalpable materials such as ashes and dust that become the constituent matter of her oeuvre. Her work is included in public and private collections, such as: VAF Stiftung Collection; MART, Rovereto; San Vito al Tagliamento Contemporary Art Collection, Pordenone. She is the winner of the 12th “Premio Segno Donna” (2018); “Premio Amarene Fabbri” (2015); “Premio acquisto per la nuova collezione d’arte contemporanea del Credito Cooperativo di Udine” (2015); “VAF Foundation Award” (2014); “Blumm Prize” (2013); “Premio Combat” (2012); “Premio Arti Visive San Fedele” (2010); in addition to the aforementioned “Premio Borsista 83° Bevilacqua La Masa” (1999). In 2020 the Galleria Nazionale di Roma held her major solo exhibition. Galleria Fumagalli dedicates two solo exhibitions to her, in 2012 and 2017. In 2021 Lóránd Hegyi included her work in the fourth and seventh exhibition of the program “MY30YEARS – Coherency in Diversity” (2021-2023).

Marco Tirelli was born in Rome in 1956, lives and works between his hometown and Spoleto. He has been president of the Accademia di San Luca in Rome since 2023 and a member of the Accademia dei Virtuosi del Pantheon. Graduated in scenography with Toti Scialoja at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, he began exhibiting in the late 70s, soon moving to the spaces of the ex Pastificio Cerere in San Lorenzo together with the Nuova Scuola Romana artists. As a result of an intellectual process and abstraction from reality, Tirelli’s formal research manifests in an allegorical and enigmatic way. The forms, often geometric and minimal, evoke personal memories and dreamlike reminiscences, hovering between recognizability and abstraction, while light and shadow mark the mysterious experience of perception of space. He exhibited for the first time at the Venice Biennale in 1982, in 1993 a personal room was dedicated to him, and in 2013 he created a large installation for the Italian Pavilion curated by Bartolomeo Pietromarchi.
The collaboration with Galleria Fumagalli began in 2003 with his first solo exhibition which was followed by the publication of the monograph with texts by Klaus Wolbert, Peter Weiermaier and Giorgio Verzotti, published on the occasion of the exhibitions at the Institut Mathildenhöhe, Darmstadt and at the Galleria Comunale d'Arte Moderna,Bologna. In 2021 Tirelli's works were selected by Lóránd Hegyi to be included in the first and seventh exhibition of the program “MY30YEARS – Coherency in Diversity”.