Giovanni Frangi Italian, 1959

Giovanni Frangi (Milan, Italy, 1959)

Born in Milan in 1959, Giovanni Frangi began painting at a very young age, graduating from the Brera Academy in 1982. That same year, he participated in his first group exhibition at the Rotonda della Besana in Milan. One year later, he returned to the same venue, displaying some pastels in the show "Artists and Writers".

In 1983, he held his first solo exhibition at the Galleria La Bussola in Turin.

In 1986, Achille Bonito Oliva introduced him to the Galleria Bergamini in Milan, where he presented large paintings of windows, armchairs, chairs and tables.

In 1989, he displayed internationally for the first time at the Galerie du Banneret in Bern.

During the 1990s, he held a retrospective exhibition at Palazzo Sarcinelli in Conegliano, which included his main landscape-themed works. In 1997, he won the Prize of the XII Rome Quadriennale, and presented the series "La fuga di Renzo”, a single artistic project composed of multiple canvases, in the Cenacolo room of Montecitorio. 

Over the years, the desire to create an ongoing dialogue between his works became his distinctive feature. In 1998, he exhibited "Il giorno e la notte," two paintings of the same format facing each other in the gallery space, at the Compagnia del Disegno in Milan.

In 1999, he displayed "Il richiamo della foresta" a forest composed of 13 canvases, at the Palazzo delle Stelline in Milan. That same year, he was featured at the Venice Biennale, creating the theatre curtain for Čechov's "Uncle Vanya," directed by Federico Tiezzi.

In 2000, Frangi emerged as a sculptor for the first time, presenting an exhibition of large-scale paper works at the Lawrence Rubin Gallery in Milan. The following year he participated in Miart, setting up an installation comprising canvases and sculptures of various sizes. With time, his works have acquired more texture through the use of resins, pigments, and different techniques.

The artist lives and works in Milan.

Photo UniCredit Group (Sebastiano Pellion di Persano)