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Oliviero Rainaldi

  -    -  Oliviero Rainaldi
OR

OLIVIERO RAINALDI

Born in the town of Caramanico Terme in 1956. From 1975 to 1978 he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice under Emilio Vedova, and he then graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts of L’Aquila, in Abruzzo, under Fabio Mauri. His first solo exhibition was in Venice in 1976. His work is largely focused on the human figure, analyzed through the various mediums of drawing, graphics, painting and sculpture. His earlier works are vague narrative compositions, but in the ‘90s he started producing isolated figures and fragments of bodies, with a linear approach that emphasises their most ideal and essential qualities, as well as revealing subtle hidden connections with archaic and medieval art. This can be seen in the following works by Rainaldi: Gisant, 1990; Battesimi Umani, 1992; Caduti, 1993; Santo, 2000; Conversazioni, 2004; Vergine, 2006; Malebolge, 2007; Copia, 2010; and Naiadi, 2012.

Over the years Rainaldi’s work has often been associated with historical locations that are not part of traditional exhibition spaces, and he has created installations in the following prestigious sites in Rome at the Complex of Bernini’s Church of San Andrea al Quirinale, with a work entitled Dono del Mattino, 2000; at the Sala Vanvitelli at the Avvocatura Generale dello Stato, with Antigone, 2012; at the Tempietto del Bramante, with Nada y Todo, 2014 and at the church of Pio Monte della Misericordia in Naples, with the work The Eight Works of Mercy, 2018.

Important solo exhibitions have been dedicated to his work at the Galleria d’Arte Moderna of Bologna in 2003 at the Palazzo Venezia of Rome in 2006, and his exhibition of sculptures using water at the gardens of the Villa Aldobrandini of Rome in 2010 was then shown at the National Museum of Villa Pisani in Venice in 2011 and at the

Venice International University on the island of San Servolo, on the occasion of the 55 th Venice Biennale of 2013. This was followed in 2015 and 2016 by a series of solo exhibitions in Asia at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Shanghai, at the Petronas Gallery in Kuala Lumpur and at the Partners & Mucciaccia Art Gallery in Singapore.

In 2017 the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) invited Rainaldi to exhibit his outdoor sculptures in Dubai, together with the British sculptor Sir Tony Craig; In 2020 he exhibits at Villa Bertelli, Forte dei Marmi, Versi a selection of drawings, paintings and sculptures that represent thirty years of his artistic research. In 2019 Oliviero Rainaldi was invited to participate at the 2nd Biennale of Anren in China. In the late ‘90s Rainaldi explored his interest in the relations between art and the Christian liturgy, attending a two-year course at the Pontifical Atheneum of St. Anselm in Rome followed by a three-year course of theology for laics. He was then entrusted with several ecclesiastical commissions and he created the liturgical furnishings for several churches in Rome, Terni, Prato and Warsaw. During the Great Jubilee of 2000 Pope John Paul II awarded him the title of Academic of the Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts and Letters of the Virtuosi at the Pantheon.

In 2010 he received the European Personality Award at the Campidoglio in Rome, in 2015 the Brand Personality Award from the Asia Pacific Brands Foundation (APBF) and in 2017 the Franco Cuomo International Award, with a ceremony at the Italian Senate. In 2015 the Maserati automobile company celebrated their 100th anniversary by commissioning Rainaldi to create the work Neptune in the Wind, a large bas-relief of the Roman god Neptune made of a piece of backlit marble. In 2016 he was given an honorary degree by the Roma Tre University of Rome.

Oliviero Rainaldi has also created artworks for the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation of Europe; the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park at Grand Rapids, Michigan; various monumental works for the Grimaldi Group; a portrait of the Queen of Malaysia, in 2011 the controversial sculpture of Pope John Paul II that now stands in Rome’s Piazza dei Cinquecento and in 2020 Infinito Campari for the company’s headquarters in Sesto San Giovanni.

Some of the artist’s artworks are present in permanent collections of national and international public institutions: Human Baptisms, 1995, at the Stockholm City Hall (the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony location); Human Baptisms, 1998, at the UN Building in Geneva; Vergine, in the Collection of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome; Santo, 2012, at the Pontifical Council for Culture, Vatican City; and Caduti, at the Soumaya Foundation, Mexico City 2015.

 

Solo Exhibition

2020

Versi 1990-2019 (curated by B. Aurdito), Villa Bertelli Foundation, Forte dei Marmi

2018

Le Otto opera di Misericordia (curated by M. Savarese), Pio Monte della Misericordia, Naples

2017

Re-cherchez la femme, Sociètè Gènèrale, Monte Carlo, Principality of Monaco

Examples, Sconci Gallery, Dubai

The nature of things, Dubai International Financial Center, Dubai

2016

Black on white, Partners & Mucciaccia Gallery, Singapore

2015

Echos (curated by P. Benson Miller), MoCA Museum of Contemporary Art, Shanghai

Twins (curated by B. Mohamad Tahir), Galeri Petronas, Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur

Libra, Gallerie Annette De Keyser, Antwerp

2014

Nada y Todo – Tribute to San Juan de la Cruz (curated by O. Lottini), Tempietto del Bramante, Royal Academy of Spain, Rome

2013

Aquae, Venice International University, San Servolo Island, Venice

Oliviero Rainaldi, Works 2003 – 2013 (curated by P. Benson Miller), Partners & Mucciaccia Gallery, Singapore

2011

Tutto scorre (curated by C. D’Orazio), National Museum of Villa Pisani Strà, Venice

2010

La natura delle cose (curated by C. D’Orazio), Villa Aldobrandini Gardens, Rome

2008

Su Carta, Rossoquarantuno Gallery of Contemporary Art, Trani

2007

Malebolge, Interno Ventidue Contemporary Art Gallery, Palazzo Taverna, Rome

2006

Oliviero Rainaldi (curated by D. Eccher), Palazzo Venezia, Rome

2004

Conversazioni, The Contemporary Bridge, Rome

Oliviero Rainaldi (curated by O. Rossi), Palazzo Bice Piacentini, San Benedetto del Tronto, Ascoli Piceno

Conversazioni, Galleria De ’Foscherari, Bologna

Bronzi, Galerie Annette De Keyser, Antwerp

2003

Oliviero Rainaldi. Disegni e sculture dal 1988 al 2003 (curated by P.  Weiermair), Villa delle Rose, MAMbo, Bologna

2001

Oliviero Rainaldi infinito presente, Ellequadro documenti arte contemporanea, Genova

Studio Lipoli, Rome

Engagement. Where do you find painting?, Westlondonprojects, London

Relievi, Pino Casagrande Contemporary Art Studio, Rome

Conversazioni, Il Ponte Contemporanea, Rome

Santo, Galleria De’ Foscherari, Bologna

2000

Dono del Mattino (curated by L. Canova, A. Olevano), Complesso di Sant’Andrea al Quirinale, Rome

Fallen. 555, The Andipa Gallery, London

Il bene e il bello. I luoghi della cura, cinquemila anni di storia, Rotonda della Besana, Milan

1999

Oliviero Rainaldi (curated by C. Chenis), Museo d’Arte Sacra Contemporanea, Italian Staurós Foundation, San Gabriele, Teramo

Caduti, Galleria Fabjbasaglia, Rimini

1998

Caduti, Fabjbasaglia Gallery, Art Fair, Cologne

Caduti, Galliani Contemporary Art Gallery, Genova

Caduti, Annette De Keyser Gallery, Antwerp

Battesimi Umani, Nuova Icona Gallery, Venice

1996

Caduti, Oddi Baglioni Gallery, Rome

Oliviero Rainaldi, Dina Caròla Contemporary Art, Naples

1995

New Monoprints, Berghoff-Cowden Editions, Tampa, Florida

Oddi Baglioni Gallery, Rome

Human Baptisms, Gian Ferrari Contemporary Art, Milan

 

Selected group exhibitions

 

2019

Common Mythology, a Confrontation of Ideals, 2nd Anren Biennale, Anren, China.

 

2018 

Mind Temple, MoCA, Shanghai.

 

Boetti, Kounellis, Rainaldi, Wannenes, Monaco.

 

Enjambement, (curated by Damiani & Russo), La Nuova Pesa Gallery, Rome.

 

Resonance Room 4. A changing world, a new approach (curated by A. de Keyser), Gallerie Annete de Keyser, Antwerp.

 

2016

Matematica e bellezza. Fibonacci e il Numero Aureo, (curated by A. Zichichi), Andria, Castel del Monte.

 

2014

La Ceramica altrove (curated by J. Pignatelli), BACC Art Biennial of Contemporary Ceramics, Scuderie Aldobrandini per l’Arte, Frascati Rome. Catalogue.

 

Di Vetro. Biennale d’arte del vetro contemporaneo, II Edizione (curated by M. De Leonardis), Inghirami Palace, Sansepolcro. Catalogue.

 

Dove l’acqua riposa (curated by P. Aita), La Nuova Pesa Gallery, Rome.

 

2013

Matrilogia, Il mistero della nascita nell’arte moderna e contemporanea, Cappella Orsini Study Center, Rome.

 

PPP Una polemica inversa. Omaggio a Pier Paolo Pasolini, (curated by F. Alivernini), Italian Culture Institute, Brussels.

 

20 years of a better world, (curated by A. De Keyser), Annette de Keyser Gallery, Anversa.

 

Opere della collezione permanente, (curated by B. Corà), CaMusAC, Museum of Contemporary Art, Cassino. Catalogue.

 

Le seduzione del monocromo. Riflessioni contemporanee su Mattia Preti, (curated by P. Aita e B. Corà), Vertigo International Research Center for Culture and Contemporary Visual Arts, Cosenza. Catalogue.

 

A Roma. Opere della Collezione Farnesina, (curated by L. Cherubini), Art Museum “Carrillo Gil”, Mexico City.

 

Autoritratto. 100 autoritratti di artisti d’Italia, (curated by B. Pietromarchi – M. Alicata), Rome. Catalogue.

 

2012

From Picasso to the new Roman school. The never-ending cult of beauty in contemporary art (curated by C. Biasini Selvaggi) Partners & Mucciaccia Gallery, Gillam Barracks, Singapore. Catalogue.

 

+50. Sculture in città tra memoria (1962) e passato (2012) (curated by G. Marziani), Collicola Visual Arts Palace, Spoleto.

 

PPP Una polemica inversa. Omaggio a Pier Paolo Pasolini (curated by F. Alivernini), Incontro Palace, Rome. Catalogue.

 

Frederik G.H. Meijer Memorial Collection of Sculptor’s Prints and Drawings, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculptures Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

 

2011

Lo splendore della Verità la bellezza della Carità. Omaggio degli artisti a Benedetto XVI per il 60° di Sacerdozio (curated by G. Ravasi), Atrio dell’Aula Paolo VI, Vatican City State.

 

Blickachasen 8 (curated by C . Scheffel – J. Te euwisse), Bad Homburg, Darmstadt. Catalogue.

 

Il Palazzo della Farnesina e le sue collezioni (curated by R. Luciani), Ara Pacis, Rome.

 

2010

2×010 – A Comparison Between Italian and Chinese Artists, Italy Pavilion Shangai Expo, Shangai.

 

In Opera 2010 – Sulle orme di P. Matteo Ricci (curated by A. Paolucci – E. Ballesi – E. Mori), Church of San Paolo, Macerata. Catalogue.

 

Ab Ovo. All’origine della forma (curated by F. Alivernini – A. Caponi), Scuderie Aldobrandini, Frascati Rome. Catalogue.

 

Sculptors Celebrate the Legacy of Fred and Lena Meijer (curated by Joseph Antenucci Becherer), Frederik Meijer, Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA.

 

2009

Il nodo sublime (curated by A. Sabato – A. Vezzosi), Museum Ideale Leonardo Da Vinci and Museum of Bigallo, Florence. Catalogue.

 

H2Opera (curated by G. Marziani), Mucciaccia Gallery, Rome. Catalogue.

 

Donne di Roma (curated by G. Cerasa), Music Park Auditorium, Rome. Catalogue.

 

Cromofobie (curated by S. Pegoraro), Ex Aurum, Pescara. Catalogue.

 

Ab Ovo. All’origine della forma. (curated by F. Alivernini – A. Caponi), Studio Abate, Rome. Catalogue. Senza Confini Staurós Italia (curated by M. Delrue), Scherpenheuvel-Zichem, Den Egger. Catalogue. Italidea (curated by R. Miracco – C. Lococo), Museo José Luis Cuevas, Mexico City. Catalogue.

 

2008

30 e…, Palazzo Ducale, Genoa.

 

Open 2008. XI° Esposizione Internazionale di Sculture ed Installazioni (curated by P. De Grandis), Venezia Lido, Isola San Servolo, Venice. Catalogue.

 

Tredicesima Biennale d’Arte Sacra Contemporanea. Magnificat (curated by C. Chenis), Contemporary Sacred Art Museum, Italian Staurós Foundation, San Gabriele – Isola del Gran Sasso, Teramo. Catalogue.

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