Graziano Negri

Graziano Negri was born in 1957 in Azzahra, Libya, to parents of Italian origin. He passed away in 2013.

Endowed with a natural talent, he approached art at a very young age, starting with figurative painting, closely aligned with the trends of pop art and symbolic figuration. In the 1990s, with the series “Imagined Line,” he transitioned to abstract or rather aniconic painting, which suited him better: a form of painting that “is not painted” but conducted and allowed to glide over the surface of various supports, at times halted in a continuous play of swift gestures and broad colored fields. This was followed by the “Eponymous Painting” cycle, a new creative exploration focused on the physical impact with the surface of the total and enveloping color. In the new millennium, Negri found a new expressive identity in the paintings dedicated to the light of the “Pearls,” where white takes on decisive force, the background and the gesture engage in a liquid symbiosis, and the material resolves space in the fusion of color-light. The artist’s last creative period is linked to “Painting in the Woods,” a “sequence of images that plunge into light reflections, totality flashes that disorient the gaze and push towards the invisible hidden in the visible” (Cerritelli 2014).

Since 1988, he collaborated with the Plurima Gallery in Udine and Milan; abroad, he was represented by the Lil’ Orsay Gallery in Paris and the APC Galerie in Cologne and Freiburg. His first solo exhibition was held at Studio Delise in Portogruaro in 1989, and from the 1990s onwards, he exhibited in numerous solo and group shows in private and public galleries in Italy and abroad: in 1997 in Cologne at Dumont Kunsthalle “Die Andere Richtung der Kunst Italiens 1960-1990” curated by Giorgio Bonomi; in 1998 at the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Bologna “Aniconica” curated by Danilo Eccher; in 2000 in Rome at the Chiostro del Bramante “BNL Una Banca per l’Arte” curated by Fabrizio D’Amico, and at Palazzo Rospigliosi Pallavicini “Figure Astratte” curated by Giovanni Maria Accame; in 2008 at Casa del Mantegna in Mantua “Pittura Aniconica” curated by Claudio Cerritelli.

His works can be found in significant public collections such as the Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in Udine, the Banca del Lavoro Collection in Rome, the Friuladria Collection, the Galleria d’Arte Contemporanea in Portogruaro, and the Luigi Spazzapan Regional Gallery of Contemporary Art in Gradisca d’Isonzo.

MAJOR SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1989
Portogruaro (VE), Studio Delise
Pordenone, Galleria la Roggia
Udine, Galleria Plurima

1990
Portogruaro, Studio Delise

1991
Klagenfurt, Galerie Carinthia
Udine, Galleria Plurima

1992
Pordenone, Centro Culturale Palazzo Gregoris
Livorno, Galleria Peccolo
Ravenna, ArteStudio Sumithra

1993
Milano, Galleria Turchetto/Plurima

1994
Udine, Galleria Plurima
Paris, Galerie Lil’ Orsay
Verona, Galleria Pontepietra

1995
Padova, Galleria Adelphi
Udine, Galleria Plurima
Milano, Turchetto/Plurima

1996
Köln, APC Galerie

1998
Padova, Galleria Adelphi
Ivry sur Seine, Cristofoli Art Contemporain
Udine, Galleria Plurima

1999
Köln, APC Galerie

2000
Udine, Galleria Plurima
Mantova, Corraini Arte Contemporanea
Roma, Galleria Marchetti

2001
Fribourg, APC Galerie
Crespano del Grappa, Andrea Pronto Arte Contemporanea

2002
Udine, Galleria Plurima

2003
Portogruaro, Galleria Comunale

2005
Roma, Galleria Marchetti
Udine, Galleria Plurima

2006
Firenze, Galleria VarArt
Fossalta (VE), Centro Culturale “I. Nievo”

2007
Monza, Spirale Arte

2008
Gattinara (VC), Galleria A&A

2009
Udine, Galleria Plurima
Udine, Gamud “Opere 1989/2009”

2010
Udine, Gamud “Questo l’ho fatto io…”

PRINCIPALI MOSTRE COLLETTIVE

1988
Udine, Galleria Plurima Quadrichromia

1990
Viterbo, Palazzo degli Alessandri, Linea Immaginata
Bolzano, Galleria Meta, Linea Immaginata
Livorno, Galleria Piccolo, Linea Immaginata
Cividale del Friuli (UD), Chiesa di Santa Maria in Corte, Plurale

1993
Firenze, Galleria Spazio/Tempo, Il domani della pittura
Parigi, Grand Palais, La Fabbrica Estetica
Milano, Turchetto/Plurima, Cascio, Negri, Talotta

1994
Sesto Calende, Premio Cesare da Sesto
Brescia, Manuale Allegrini, L’Asta delle Ceneri

1995
Trieste, La Galleria Plurima al Museo Revoltella
Gallarate, XVIII Premio Città di Gallarate

1996
Nocciano, Museo di Nocciano, In Nome dell’Astratto
Milano, Studio Reggiani, In Nome dell’Astratto
Revere, Palazzo Ducale, In Nome dell’Astratto
Udine, Nuove Contaminazioni
Mantova, Palazzo Ducale, Fermare lo sguardo
Milano, Studio Reggiani, Fermare lo sguardo
Portogruaro, Galleria Comunale, Fermare lo sguardo

1997
Bassano del Grappa, Museo Civico, Fermare lo sguardo
Köln, DuMont Kunsthalle, Die andere Richtung der Kunst. Abstrakte Kunst Italiens ’60/’90

1998
Bergamo, Galleria Fumagalli, Insieme oltre una linea d’ombra
Köln, APC Galerie, No comment
Bologna, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Aniconica
Portogruaro, Galleria Comunale d’Arte Contemporanea, Progetto per un Museo ’98

1999
Klagenfurt, Comitato per Olimpiadi, Kunst ohne Grenzen
Brest, Centre le Quartz, Europe sans frontières 10
Quimper, Galerie Patrick Gaultier, Europe sans frontières 10

2000
Quimper, Galerie Patrick Gaultier, L’Endroit ou tous les etres
Roma, Chiostro del Bramante, BNL – Una Banca per l’arte oltre il mecenatismo

2001
Roma, Palazzo Rospigliosi Pallavicini, Figure Astratte

2002
Palazzolo sull’Oglio (BS), Fondazione Cicogna Rampana, Visione Interiore
Andro (BS), Palazzo Bargnani Dandolo, Visione Interiore

2003
Castenedolo (BS), Chiesa dei Disciplini, Visione Interiore
Seregno (MI), Civica Galleria. Mariani, Sul filo del colore

2004
Seregno (MI), Galleria Mandelli, Altre Astrazioni
Portovenere (SP), Fond. “MareNostrum”, Lucidamente
Busto Arsizio (VA), Premio B.A.rt 2004
Chiavari (GE), Fondazione Zappettini, Oltre il Monocromo

2005
Mantova, Galleria Disegno, Percorsi del Colore
Udine, Galleria Plurima, Morganti, Negri

2007
Milano, Spirale Arte, Aporìe
Udine, Galleria Plurima, Rossofuoco
Pordenone, Palazzo Gregoris, Il Tempo dell’Arte
Finale Ligure (SV), Fortezza Castelfranco, Percorsi del Colore

2008
Mantova, Casa del Mantegna, Pittura Aniconica
Portogruaro (VE), G.C.A.C. 1998-2008, 10 Anni di Opere d’Arte
Udine, Galleria Plurima, Egger/Negri/Rizzi
Seregno (MI), Mandelli Arte Contemporanea, Nerazzurra

2009
Seregno (MI), Mandelli Arte Contemporanea, Centoingiro
Borgomanero (NO), Eventinove, Imago

2012
Gradisca d’Isonzo (GO), Galleria d’Arte Regionale Luigi Spazzapan
Milano, Galleria Progetto-elm