Giuseppe Maraniello Biography
Giuseppe Maraniello was born in Naples in 1945. After his artistic studies, he began teaching at the Liceo Artistico of Benevento in 1969, the year in which he came into contact with the Morra Gallery in Naples. In 1971 he moved to Milan. He met Luciano Inga Pin and frequented his gallery, where he exhibited and met several artists with whom he initially shared an interest and privilege in the photographic medium. In the second half of the 70s he abandoned photography in favor of painting and, in general, the traditional languages of art, with an attitude that would soon lead him to create works in which drawing, painting and sculpture are used in a dialectical way and seem to find formal synthesis . After personal exhibitions at some private galleries, he is among the protagonists of several collective exhibitions in public spaces, including “Lʼestetico e il Selvaggio” Galleria Civica dʼArte Moderna, Modena, 1979 curated by Giorgio Cortenova, “Italiana Nuova Immagine” Loggetta Lombardesca , Ravenna, 1980 edited by Achille Bonito Oliva and, almost simultaneously, “Ten years after the new ones” Galleria dʼArte Moderna, Bologna, 1980 edited by Francesca Alinovi, Renato Barilli and Roberto Daolio. In 1982 he participated in “Arte Italiana 1960-1982” Hayward Gallery, London, 1982, curated by Guido Ballo, Renato Barilli and Flavio Caroli. Gillo Dorfles invites him to present a large public project on the occasion of the exhibition-event “Around the Magic Flute” Teatro della Scala, Palazzo della Permanente, Milan, 1985, curated by E. Napolitano and G. Dorfles. In addition to exhibiting in various Italian and foreign galleries, in 1989 he became the holder of a chair of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts. After Lecce and Bologna, in 1991 he was transferred to the Brera Academy in Milan, where he taught until 2003. In 1990 he participated with a personal room at the XLIV Venice Art Biennale with a presentation in the catalog by Lea Vergine. In the same year he exhibited at the Virreina Palace in Barcelona, at the Crystal Palace in Madrid and at the Matidenhohe Darmstadt on the occasion of “Lʼaltra sculpture” curated by Renato Barilli. He is among the protagonists of the traveling exhibition “Cadenze, figures of Italian art of the 90s curated by Pier Giovanni Castagnoli which in 1992 was hosted by South American institutions such as the Sofia Imber in Caracas and the Museum of Modern Art in Bogotà. In 1993 the Galleria Civica of Trento and the Gallery of Modern Art of Bologna – Villa delle Rose dedicated an extensive anthology to him curated by Pier Giovanni Castagnoli and Danilo Eccher. The gardens of the S. Chiara Center in Trento will be the permanent home to one of his large sculptures. The following year he participated in the exhibition "L'incanto e la transcendenza" Castel Ivano, Ivano Fracena, Trento, curated by Danilo Eccher, while in 1995 one of his large installations emerged on the water of Venice on the occasion of "Artelaguna" curated by Simonetta Gorreri and with the patronage of the Venice Biennale. In 1997 he participated in the exhibition “Arte Italiana – Materiali Anomali” curated by Danilo Eccher and Dede Auregli at the Galleria dʼArte Moderna in Bologna, which since 1996 has permanently hosted one of his sculptures in its gardens. Lea Vergine invites him on the occasion of the exhibition “Trash. When waste becomes art”, 1998 Palazzo delle Albere, Trento, and Archivio del Novecento, Rovereto. The three floors of the Giò Marconi gallery are the occasion of his major exhibition in Milan in 1998, the year in which he also exhibited with Luigi Mainolfi at the "Pescheria" Visual Arts Center in Pesaro. Between 1996 and 2000 he created numerous permanent works in public spaces, including: a monument to sailors for the port of Molfetta, a sculpture for the Le Vallette prison in Turin and one for the Civil Motorization of Rome. In 2000 he exhibited simultaneously at the Fumagalli gallery in Bergamo and at the Giò Marconi gallery in Milan. "Boomerang". In 2001 he created a four-handed work with Arnaldo Pomodoro for the St. John Evangelist Cathedral in Milwaukee, WI, USA. Large anthologies were dedicated to him in 2001 at the Fortezza Firmafede, Sarzana, curated by the Cardelli & Fontana gallery and in 2002 at the Rocca Sforzesca in Imola, curated by Marisa Zattini.
