Artist: Alberto Mancini
Alberto Mancini (1960- ) is from the small town of Atina, located in the mountains of southern Italy where his family has lived for 400 years. His father, a portrait photographer, taught Mancini to draw at a very young age, and encouraged him to experiment with a variety of media. Mancini had his first art exhibition at the age of 15. The work displayed was of figures and landscapes in oil.
In 1973, Mancini began his studies in architecture at the University of Architecture in Venice, the most influential in Europe. While in Venice, he was encouraged in his painting by some of the most important Italian intellectuals and artists. At this time, he began to develop a particular style and technique that would be recognized as “rigorous, without colorful exaggeration and focused on imagined signs.”
His painting, at this time, was devoted to the exploration of nature and the nature of things. Mancini also worked in theater design while in Venice. He exhibited his work in several individual and group show and began earning recognition for his unusual and eloquent style and subject material. In 1986, he earned his degree in architecture, along with many academic awards for his exceptional work.
After graduation, Mancini returned to the mountains of southern Italy to begin a family and to practice architecture. He also continued to paint and to accrue critical attention and prestigious awards including the “Leon d’Oro Assessorato alla Cultura.” In 1997, his work was exhibited in what was called “the most important exhibition ever organized in the Lazio region [near Rome].”
Mancini has been described as both poet and painter. The Italian poet and essayist Alfonso Cardamone said “Mancini masters his technique…he is modern because he meticulously deconstructs images…he goes beyond every post-modernism and is never influenced by banality and self-complacent insignificance.”
(via The Morrison Gallery)
