Massimo Giannoni Italian, b. 1954
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Biography
Italian artist Massimo Giannoni attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, where in 1979 he was awarded for the Lubiam Prize (Mantova), given to the best student from all the Fine Arts academies of Italy. He boasts a long series of international exhibitions and fairs. In December 2021, Giannoni joined in the permanent collection "Quirinale Contemporaneo", curated by Enrica Renata Mazzantini, at Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome.
Giannoni's work focuses upon the representation of places of dense storage and accumulation; places of memory. Libraries, stock exchanges, squares and natural science museums are recurring subjects. Within these spaces, the artist records an orderly and sometimes disorderly overabundance of information.
Giannoni focusses upon the environment, left without the presence of man. It points to the inexorable passage of time, where objects remain dormant as an indication of the people who came before.
He uses a technique that evades the counterposed methods of abstraction and figurative representation. His brushwork is characterized by the layering of impasto oil paint, building upon the canvas to enhance the expressive power of the image until it seems to vibrate with the same abundance as its subject. Distance is fundamental to the appreciation of his process. The thick matter, spread out with a spatula, makes the contours crumble, the composition dissolves and only when viewed from a distance does it recompose itself. In this way, the paint both describes the composition, and assumes the same physical quality of the subject at hand.
Massimo Giannoni's work has been heralded as "rooms of wonders". They are metaphorical representations of place, briefly deserted, that tempt us to spend time pondering every aspect of their character. We long to sit, to read, to understand these overwhelmingly busy spaces by running our hands across the bustling bookshelves, and to realise that there is order to the chaos.
Works
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Bookstore con Fuga Centrale, 2024Oil on linen40 x 60 cm
15.8 x 23.6 in -
Bookstore con Pavimento Giallo, 2024Oil on linen40 x 60 cm
15.8 x 23.6 in -
Bookstore con Red Cover, 2024Oil on linen40 x 60 cm
15.8 x 23.6 in -
Bookstore Verde, 2024Oil on linen40 x 60 cm
15.8 x 23.6 in -
Scala a Chiocciola, 2024Oil on linen40 x 60 cm
15.8 x 23.6 in -
Bookshop I, 2023Oil on linen60 x 80 cm
23.6 x 31.5 in -
Magliabechiana, 2023Oil on linen40 x 60 cm
15.8 x 23.6 in -
Pavimento Arancio, 2023Oil on linen80 x 110 cm
31.5 x 43.3 in -
Bookstore, 2022Oil on linen60 x 80 cm
23.6 x 31.5 in
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Exhibitions
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Massimo Giannoni
Simulacrum 17 Oct - 17 Nov 2024Italian painter Massimo Giannoni paints pictures of collections of books, systematically arranged for display, reference and consumption in bookshops and libraries. They are representations of singular spaces, designed for thoughtful consultation and communion with a world of ideas, entertainment and information. These images describe the structural underpinnings of civilisation, a physical and architectural space to contain the life of the mind.Read more
Giannoni deploys a lively palette. His handling is loose and deft. He builds up layers and accretions of thickly-applied paint over a carefully-drafted underpainting of the perspective plan of his chosen location. Stacks, files and piles of books fill the serried ranks of regularly ordered bookcases. The scene is described by streaks, patches and clusters of multi-coloured impasto. This rich and busy surface articulates a visceral delight in the materiality of paint, which, in turn, brings to mind the tactile excitement anticipated in the touch and feel of much sought after manuscripts and documents.
The painter evokes a particular quality of light. He illuminates his spaces with a suffused and soft glow, whether emanating from the sun shining through a window or artificial sources like lamps and chandeliers. Such subtly modulated lighting gives these interiors a sanctified aspect reminiscent of the clerestory and the church and points to associated qualities of lucidity and enlightenment. Giannoni makes a play for some sense of equivalence in experience between the bookshop and the sanctuary.
The artist presents us with a simulacrum, replacing reality with its representations. Here are the painted signs of books, unreadable but transformed into a comprehensible image that encompasses the idea of the written and what it, in turn, signifies. We are asked to make a connection – with the library of ideas in all its multitude of guises, in all its multitude of languages and its awesome, sublime confusion, ours to attempt to decipher. -
Through the Mind’s Eye: an Anthology
9 Feb - 26 Mar 2023Massimo Giannoni is a painter of books and, in particular, a multitude of books that are housed in specific libraries, stores and collections. These are painted in a colourful, representational...Read more
Art Fairs
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EXPO Chicago 2025
24 - 27 Apr 2025Pontone Gallery is delighted to announce our participation in the upcoming EXPO Chicago 2025. For TICKET & sales enquiries Please email us here or get...Read more -
Art Palm Beach 2025
22 - 26 Jan 2025Pontone Gallery is delighted to announce our participation in the upcoming Art Palm Beach 2025, taking place from January 22 - 26. We will be showcasing a curated selection of exceptional artworks that celebrate the diversity and beauty of contemporary art. Highlights include the mesmerising “rooms of wonders” by prize-winning Italian artist Massimo Giannoni, alongside works by British-Japanese artist Yuki Aruga, who we are proud to represent.Read more
