Milan, an exhibition at Triennale featuring 120 contemporary Italian painters: here's who they are

A major exhibition in Milan to showcase contemporary Italian painting. The exhibition, which will not fail to provoke discussion about modalities, inclusions and exclusions, is scheduled at the Triennale from Oct. 25, 2023 to Feb. 11, 2024, is titled Italian PaintingToday, and is curated by Damiano Gullì, curator for contemporary art and public program of Triennale, with installation design by Studio Italo Rota. The exhibition, whose title echoes the volume of the same name published by Multhipla/Giancarlo Politi in 1975, is dedicated to contemporary Italian painting and brings together the work of 120 artists born between 1960 and 2000.

In the year of the centenary celebrations of Triennale Milano, Pittura italiana oggi aims to ideally reconnect with the history of the institution by resuming the suggestions of the exhibitions of mural painting, organized in the Palazzo dell’Arte starting in 1933, and those of Luciano Baldessari’s installation for the 9th International Exhibition in 1951. The intent is to highlight how painting has been the subject of analysis and exhibition restitution by Triennale since its founding, in a lively dialogue between disciplines.

Pittura italiana oggi has an ambitious goal: to highlight the richness and complexity of contemporary Italian painting in all its declinations and facets, from disciplinary contaminations and slippages to the reinterpretation and twisting of traditional techniques and iconographies to an “expanded painting” that goes beyond the support/canvas to “invade” spaces and surfaces.

Individual representative exempla were identified in the exhibition, through one work per artist, made between 2020 and 2023, which according to the curator manage to offer cross-cutting looks, readings and original interpretations of our contemporaneity. The result is an “intergenerational mapping, prismatic restitution of the multiple facets of painting making today,” reads a note from the Triennale. “The time frame considered has seen exceptional historical, social and economic transformations and upheavals - from pandemic to war to the dreaded undermining, and disappearance, of authorship due to the evolving applications of artificial intelligence - the reflections of which, direct and indirect, can be captured in many of the works on display.”

Studio Italo Rota ’s installation design proposes an open modular system in which to move freely among the works, which are not ordered according to chronological criteria but are juxtaposed in a combinatorial game, pandering to shifts from figuration to abstraction, and vice versa, with the idea of highlighting how the boundaries between these two polarities are now fluid, porous and, in some ways, interchangeable. Some artists have also been invited to measure themselves against the Triennale’s installation modules and exhibition space to create special commissions of “site-specific” works, an ideal reference to the historical environmental pictorial interventions at the Triennale. The production of the materials used in the installation includes in its production phase a quantitative reduction of the source material. Thus, the exhibition is directed toward 100 percent non-CO2 production and non-use of finishing materials, glues, paints, fillers, welds.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog, published by Electa, with institutional introductions by Stefano Boeri, President of Triennale Milano, and Pierpaolo Piccioli, Creative Director of Valentino; critical contributions by Damiano Gullì, curator of the exhibition; Francesco Bonami, art criticart critic and curator, Suzanne Hudson, critic and art historian, and Davide Ferri, critic and curator; a conversation on painting between Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries, London, and Katharina Grosse, artist, moderated by Larissa Kikol, critic and art historianart; a text on the history of Italian painting from 1959 to 1979 by Laura Cherubini, art historian and critic, and Andrea Viliani, director of the Museum of Civilizations in Rome; and one on the history of mural painting in the Triennale by Marilia Pederbelli, assistant curator of the Triennale; a text on the exhibition design by architect Italo Rota; and worksheets written by critics and curators Lisa Andreani, Annika Pettini and Simona Squadrito.

In addition to the catalog, the exhibition will be accompanied by a podcast, produced by Triennale Milano and written and produced by Tiziano Scarpa, which will explore the themes of the exhibition itinerary.

Stefano Boeri, president of Triennale Milano, says, "After the renovated Museum of Italian Design and the exhibition Home Sweet Home, we are presenting a third exhibition project conceived for Triennale’s centennial year: a major exhibition on the state of contemporary Italian painting, which starts from the recovery of the institution’s history and also becomes an opportunity for a reading of the contemporary art scene through the expressive language of painting."

Damiano Gullì, curator of the exhibition, says, "Pittura italiana oggi was born from years of research, study visits and encounters, both human and professional, with artists throughout Italy. The scene that has emerged is one of extraordinary vivacity. Triennale, connecting with its history, thus accepts the challenge of presenting it in its complexity, offering the opportunity for an analysis of this scene with the aim of promoting and enhancing it in our country and in the world."

The full list of artists: Beatrice Alici (San Donà di Piave, 1992), Paola Angelini (San Benedetto del Tronto, 1983), Silvia Argiolas (Cagliari, 1977), Stefano Arienti (Asola, 1961), Francesca Banchelli (Montevarchi, 1981), Riccardo Baruzzi (Lugo, 1976), Andrea Barzaghi (Monza, 1988), Romina Bassu (Rome, 1982), Alessandro Bazan (Palermo, 1966), Angelo Bellobono (Nettuno, 1964), Thomas Berra (Desio, 1986), Luca Bertolo (Milan, 1968), Lorenza Boisi (Milan, 1972), Bea Bonafini (Bonn, 1990), Marco Bongiorni (Garbagnate Milanese, 1981), Benni Bosetto (Merate, 1987), Thomas Braida (Gorizia, 1982), Michele Bubacco (Venice, 1983), Pierpaolo Campanini (Cento, 1964), Pietro Capogrosso (Trani, 1967), Linda Carrara (Bergamo, 1984), Valerio Carrubba (Siracusa, 1975), Guglielmo Castelli (Turin, 1987), Manuele Cerutti (Turin, 1976), Andrea Chiesi (Modena, 1966), Marco Cingolani (Como, 1961), Adelaide Cioni (Bologna, 1976), Roberto Coda Zabetta (Biella, 1975), Claudio Coltorti (Naples, 1989), Gianluca Concialdi (Palermo, 1981), Rudy Cremonini (Bologna, 1981), Pierpaolo Curti (Lodi, 1972), Valentina D’Amaro (Massa, 1966), Davide D’Elia (Cava dei Tirreni, 1973), Enrico David (Ancona, 1966), Francesco De Grandi (Palermo, 1968), Roberto de Pinto (Terlizzi, 1996), Marta Dell’Angelo (Pavia, 1970), Alberto Di Fabio (Avezzano, 1966), Stanislao Di Giugno (Rome, 1969), Patrizio di Massimo (Jesi, 1983), Gianluca Di Pasquale (Rome, 1971), Fulvio Di Piazza (Syracuse, 1969), Chiara Enzo (Venice, 1989), Alice Faloretti (Brescia, 1992), Matteo Fato (Pescara, 1979), Alessandro Fogo (Thiene, 1992), Andrea Fontanari (Trent, 1996), Giulio Frigo (Arzignano, 1984), Giorgia Garzilli (Naples, 1992), Oscar Giaconia (Milan, 1978), Emilio Gola (Milan, 1994), Paolo Gonzato (Busto Arsizio, 1975), Cecilia Granara (Jeddah, 1991), Diego Gualandris (Alzano Lombardo, 1993), Agnese Guido (Copertino, 1982), Sebastiano Impellizzeri (Catania, 1982), Massimo Kaufmann (Milan, 1963), Pesce Khete (Rome, 1980), Andrea Kvas (Trieste, 1986), Francesco Lauretta (Ispica, 1964), Viola Leddi (Milan, 1993), Iva Lulashi (Tirana, 1988), Marta Mancini (Rome, 1981), Giulia Mangoni (Isola del Liri, 1991), Margherita Manzelli, (Ravenna, 1968), Beatrice Marchi (Gallarate, 1986), Andrea Martinucci (Rome, 1991), Fabio Marullo (Catania, 1973), Fulvia Mendini (Milan, 1966), Beatrice Meoni (Florence, 1960), Daniele Milvio (Genoa, 1988), Narcisa Monni (Alghero, 1981), Pietro Moretti (Rome, 1996), Maria Morganti (Milan, 1965), Angelo Mosca (Chieti, 1961), Marco Neri (Forlì, 1968), Valerio Nicolai (Gorizia, 1988), Ismaele Nones (Trento, 1992), Francis Offman (Butare, 1987), Luca Pancrazzi (Figline Valdarno, 1961), Dario Pecoraro (1984, Milan), Jem Perucchini (Tekeze, 1995), Alessandro Pessoli (Cervia, 1963), Gabriele Picco (Brescia, 1974), Edoardo Piermattei (Ancona, 1992), Aronne Pleuteri (Erba, 2001), Amedeo Polazzo (Starnberg, 1988), Nazzarena Poli Maramotti (Montecchio Emilia, 1987), Gianni Politi (Rome, 1986), Vera Portatadino (Varese, 1984), Luigi Presicce (Porto Cesareo, 1976), Pierluigi Pusole (Turin, 1963), Marta Ravasi (Merate, 1987), Andrea Respino (Mondovì, 1976), Pietro Roccasalva (Modica, 1970), Chris Rocchegiani (Jesi, 1977), Giangiacomo Rossetti (Milan, 1989), Giuliana Rosso (Chivasso, 1992), Pietro Ruffo (Rome, 1978), Erik Saglia (Turin, 1989), Nicola Samorì (Forlì, 1977), Angelo Sarleti (Reggio Calabria, 1979), Alessandro Sarra (Rome, 1966), Alessandro Scarabello (Rome, 1979), Davide Serpetti (L’Aquila, 1990), Marta Sforni (Milan, 1966), Mario Silva (London, 1993), Sofia Silva (Padua, 1990), Marta Spagnoli (Verona, 1994), Enrico Tealdi (Cuneo, 1976), Maddalena Tesser (Vittorio Veneto, 1992), Michele Tocca (Subiaco, 1983), Saverio Tonoli (Lucca, 1984), Eva Chiara Trevisan (Treviso, 1991), Vedovamazzei (Simeone Crispino, Naples, 1962, Stella Scala, Naples, 1964), Nicola Verlato (Verona, 1965), Flaminia Veronesi (Milan, 1986), Alice Visentin (Turin, 1993).

The exhibition is produced in partnership with Valentino. Institutional Partners Lavazza Group and Salone del Mobile.Milano and Technical Partners ATM and Saviola also support Triennale Milano for this project.

Visiting hours: Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. (last entry 7 p.m.). Full ticket: 15 euros / reduced 12 euros / students 7.50 euros. One-day ticket to visit all Triennale Milano exhibitions: 25 euros.

Milan, an exhibition at Triennale featuring 120 contemporary Italian painters: here's who they are

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