Luigi Mainolfi Italian, 1948

Luigi Mainolfi (Rotondi, Avellino, Italy, 1948)

Born in Rotondi (Avellino) in 1948, Luigi Mainolfi left Naples in 1973 after attending the Academy of Fine Arts.

In the early 1970s, he settled in Turin, immersing himself in the experimental art scene of the time. In those years, he investigated the physical and mental duplication of his image, by making plaster or wax casts of his body and leaving them to degrade in water.

In the 1980s, he began reflecting on sculpture materials and their expressive potential. Interested in the relationship between surface and volume in plastic language, the artist focuses on the outward part of his works, allowing the material’s inherent qualities to guide him. This led to a levelling of his sculptures in the 1990s.

Among his numerous retrospectives dating back to the 1990s, in 1996 Mainolfi installed a visionary bench-ladder at the Museo Civico di Castel Nuovo in Naples. At the same time, his works were exhibited at Villa Pignatelli and the Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte in Naples.

Foto UniCredit Group (Andrea Segliani)