The artist must be the means, not the aim of art: an ambassador of principles greater than himself. -E.M.
Enrico Magnani is an Italian contemporary artist known for his works that integrate art, science and spirituality. His definitive establishment in the world of art follows a path which he started out as scientific researcher in the field of nuclear fusion. At a certain point in his career, Magnani felt the need to proceed along those paths of knowledge where purely rational speculation is not enough. After an initial figurative period, his original abstract works quickly brought him to international attention and since 2010 they have been presented in museums, foundations, private galleries and public institutions in Europe and the USA. He holds seminars and workshops on creativity in art and in life through the constructive use of error and intuition.
Magnani's first abstract exhibition, "Matter and Symbol," was held at the Centre Culturel Franco-Allemand in Karlsruhe in 2010. Archetypes and matter will also dominate the scene in subsequent exhibitions at the Italian Institutes of Culture in Prague with "Harmonices Mundi" (2013) and "Magnum Opus" (2016), and in Stuttgart with "Mystical Treasures in 2013. In 2015, at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan, Magnani displayed in an exhibition-event for the Akbaraly Foundation "Cosmic Hug," a work in which the cosmological and cosmogonic references become increasingly clear and evident. The exhibition "Universal Flag" held at the Zhou B Art Center in Chicago in 2016 is also in this transitional phase. The year 2017 opens with the retrospective "L'Oro della Terra" at the Chiostri di San Domenico in Reggio Emilia, his hometown, which marks a closure of the material-archetypal period to make way for the cycle of the cosmos with "Supernova - Birth to Life" exhibition held in the same year at the Italian Institute of Culture in Chicago. The works from the Supernova series returned to Italy and in 2018 were exhibited at the Sala del Cenacolo in the Chamber of Deputies, in Rome. The artist's comeback in the world of science is marked, in 2019, by the exhibition "Searching the Unknown - The Dark Matter Collection" set up at CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Geneva, where phosphorescent works are being exhibited for the first time; the exhibition will also be brought in the same year to L'Aquila at the Gran Sasso Science Institute on the occasion of the National Congress of the Italian Physical Society. 2020 is the year of "Quintessence," a permanent installation on astro-particle physics created at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory. In December 2022, the book “Advances in Cosmology | Science - Art - Philosophy”, which he is co-editor and co-author, is published by Springer publishing house. In the last years (2022-2023) Magnani brings his works further closer to the public, receiving great attention thanks to the intentional interactivity of his exhibitions titled "Light in the Dark," in Bologna, Sala Borsa, on the occasion of the International Conference on High Energy Particles (ICHEP) and in Genoa on the occasion of the XXI Festival of Science at the University Library. In 2023, the meeting with Kangra, the brand of excellence in cashmere, brings Magnani's art into the world of fashion with the creation of the "Art Couture" collection.
Enrico Magnani is an
Italian contemporary artist known for his works that integrate art,
science, and spirituality. He graduated as a nuclear engineer at the
Polytechnic University of Milan and worked as a researcher in the field
of nuclear fusion at KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology). At a certain point in his scientific career, he felt
the need to proceed along those paths of knowledge where purely rational
speculation is not enough. After an initial figurative period, his
original abstract works quickly brought him to international attention
and since 2010 they have been presented in museums, foundations, private
galleries and public institutions in Europe and the USA. He holds
seminars and workshops on creativity in art and in life through the
constructive use of error and intuition.
After his first figurative period in
which he painted bodies and faces only with the explicit intent to
"amplify to shock", represented by the galleries in Milan and Nice
(1997-2003) and in some collective exhibitions in Venice, Innsbruck,
and Palmi, Magnani enters in a transition period that can be defined as
“a blackout of meaning”, namely a lack of faith in the message of his
artworks that made him lose the momentum for public exhibitions, but not
the desire to seek and to paint.
Magnani left Milan for Paris
(2004-2006), where he continued to work on the human figure which is
transformed, becoming more clean and symbolic. Only in Germany, Karlsruhe
(2006-2011), did he definitively attain abstract painting, material and
symbolic, with a higher message and, this time, "worthy of being
conveyed".
In 2010, in Germany, supported by Director Robert
Walter, he presented his abstract creations for the first time at the
Fondation Centre Culturel Franco-Allemand in Karlsruhe. In the same year, in Turin,
he won the “Internazionale Italia Arte” and began a long-lasting and
fruitful collaboration with the MIIT Museum and its director Guido
Folco. In subsequent years, under the curatorship of Guido Folco, his
work was exhibited in important group exhibitions in various European
capitals (Prague, Sofia, Copenhagen, Vienna, Cologne, Berlin, London,
and Rome) alongside great names of the Italian art scene including
Modigliani, Dova, Funi, Treccani, Boetti, Annigoni, Schifano, Scanavino,
and Guttuso. In 2010 his book "Interview with Myself" was published; in
the book Magnani explains the choice that led him to abandon the world
of scientific research to devote himself entirely to art, the
abandonment of figurative painting, and the newly found message which
aims to communicate with his abstract works.
In 2011, he exhibited for the first time in the United
States in a group exhibition at the 33 Contemporary Gallery in the Zhou
Brothers Art Center of Chicago starting a still ongoing
collaboration. In 2011 he also participated in the exhibitions
"Contemporary Italian Art" held at the Italian Institute of Culture in Copenhagen; "150 anni dell'unità d'Italia", at the Italian Institute of Culture in Prague; and “L’unità dell’Arte, l’arte dell’Unità”, in Rome, at Complesso dei Dioscuri Quirinale (Italian President Palace).
In 2012, he realized a solo exhibition at the Altes Dampfbad of Baden-Baden (Germany) and two group exhibitions in the Italian Cultural Institute of Sofia and Cologne.
In the same year he began a collaboration with the Akbaraly Foundation
with the charity exhibition "Imagine" held at the AEM Foundation in
Milan.
In 2013, he made two important solo exhibitions: "Mystical Treasures" at the Italian Cultural Institute of Stuttgart and "Harmonices Mundi" at the Italian Cultural Institute of Prague;
the latter inspired by the mystical themes of Johannes Kepler and
especially creating a work dedicated and donated to the city of Prague
in the presence of the mayor and the Italian diplomatic corps. Also in
2013, to remember his participation in the collective exhibition "Ad
Aeternum" at the Palazzo Pontificio Maffei Marescotti in Vatican City.
In December 2014, the MIIT, Museo Internazionale Italia Arte of Turin,
realized a retrospective entitled "Mystical Treasures - Works
2007-2014" accompanied by a catalogue that collected for the first time
the works of his abstract period. Again in 2014, in Vienna,
at the Italian Cultural Institute, in the collective exhibition
"Sentieri di Pensieri", Magnani exhibited for the first time a wearable
artwork .
In 2015, one of his works was part of the exhibition "From Picasso to contemporary artists" at the Oud Sint-Jan Museum in Bruges,
Belgium. In September, his first anthological catalogue is published and presented at MIIT, Turin. In October of the same year, he displayed his art project
"Cosmic Hug - Connecting art and people together" at the Pinacoteca
Ambrosiana in Milan with an event in favour of the Akbaraly Foundation presented by Alessandro Cecchi Paone and followed by Vogue Italia.
In April 2016, following the invitation of the director Giovanni Sciola, he came back to the Italian Cultural Institute of Prague
with the "Magnum Opus" exhibition held on the occasion of the
international academic conference "Greed of the Unknown". In May of 2016
in Chicago, at the Zhou Brothers Art Center, he
created the collection "Universal Flag" displayed in the homonymous
exhibition, curated by Sergio Gomez, at the ACS Gallery. In November of
the same year the documentary film "Enrico Magnani - Mystical Treasures"
was made and broadcast on national channels on January 10, 2017.
In February of 2017, with "The Gold of the Earth", exhibition curated by Prof. Massimo Mussini at the Cloisters of San Domenico in Reggio Emilia,
Magnani displayed more than a hundred artworks covering the last ten
years of his abstract work. In September of the same year, following the
invitation of the director of the Italian Cultural Institute of Chicago,
Alberta Lai, presents his solo exhibition "Supernova - Birth to Life",
beginning a new series of works totally different from everything done
in the previous years.
In February 2018, with the exhibition "Supernova -
Figurazioni Cosmiche", curated by Francesca Barbi Marinetti and Simona
Cigliana, Enrico Magnani shows in Rome, at Sala del
Cenacolo of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, the Supernova collection
exhibited the previous year in the United States. In July, he takes part
in the exhibition curated by Guido Folco “Maestri Reali (Royal
Masters)” held at the National Library of Turin. In
October, a selection of the Supernova series is exhibited, again in the
capital, at the Galleria D.d'Arte on the occasion of the Rome Art Week.
The same year Magnani begins the new series “Supernova - Dark Matter”
working with phosphorescent pigments to highlight more and more the
connection between Art and Science.
In July 2019, Magnani brings his new collection "Supernova Dark Matter" to CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) in Geneva
with the exhibition "Searching the Unknown" curated by Marilena
Streit-Bianchi, the Art & Science project includes the publication
of a catalogue that, in addition to artworks, collects texts by renown
exponents of various disciplines from art to physics and cosmology. In
September the exhibition is brought to L'Aquila at GSSI
(Gran Sasso Science Institute) on the occasion of the National Congress
of the Italian Physical Society (SIF) and the European Researchers'
Night.
In March 2020, for the Gran Sasso National Laboratories (LNGS-INFN) in L'Aquila,
Magnani begins the creation of the permanent installation
“Quintessence”, which is subsequently set up on five walls of the
research division. The installation is completed in October (Officially
presented to the public in October 2022). The work, inspired by
astroparticle physics, aims to develop and promote the interaction
between the world of art and the world of science for a new vision and
understanding of our universe. The work is documented through a
catalogue promoted by INFN (National Institute of Nuclear Physics).
In July 2022, in Bologna, on the
occasion of ICHEP 2022 (International Conference on High Energy
Particles), Magnani presents the interactive exhibition 'Light in the
Dark' curated by Marilena Streit-Bianchi and Kerstin Petrick.
Fluorescent and phosphorescent works of art with a cosmological
character that react to the ultraviolet light from flashlights used by
viewers. In September, part of this exhibition will then be mounted in Cagliari
on the occasion of the “Gravitas Fest”, organized by INFN (National
Institute of Nuclear Physics). In October, he presents his works and
participates as a speaker on the topic of Art and Science at the Genoa Science Festival. In November, he exhibits his works for the first time in Naples
at Frame Art Artes Gallery with the solo show "Totem and Tao" curated
by Paola Pozzi. In December of the same year, the book "Advances in
cosmology | Science, Art, Philosphy" published by Springer, comes out, of which he is co-editor
and co-author with a chapter devoted to the interactions between art and
science.
In June
2023, for the international conference "Supernova Neutrino Detection,"
at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory - L'Aquila, he presents his permanent installation
between art and science "Quintessence" (present on site) to
researchers. In October, he brings his interactive exhibition "Light in
the Dark" from Bologna to Genoa for the 21st Festival of Science, hosted
at the historic site of the University Library. In November, he exhibits some
of his works from the "Supernova Dark Matter" series at the
presentation of the book "Advances in Cosmology | Science, Art, Philosphy"
at the CERN library in Geneva, together with Nobel Laureate Michel Mayor
(Co-author of the book). Also in November, in Milan, at the IULM University, he
presents a preview of "Art Couture," the collection between art and
fashion inspired by his cosmogonic works and created for the brand of
excellence in cashmere, Kangra; the release is scheduled for the fall-winter
2024 season.
MY STORY
How I became an artist - from science to art
Italian with English subtitles
