Gianni Politi Italian, 1986

Gianni Politi was born in 1986 in Rome, where he lives and works today.

His practice, mainly as a painter, is deeply rooted in both the classical and

modern pictorial traditions of his native Italy, and his work strives to narrate

the struggle of being a contemporary painter today.

 

His desire to understand the relationship between past and present is a 

driving force behind his painting, which shifts between abstract and 

figurative images—and from very large to very small canvases.

 

His large abstract paintings are often reflections on struggle, some literally

inspired by military battles, others concerned with issues of contemporary 

society; the paintings are made by slashing and cutting works already made,

and reassembling the different pieces onto larger canvases thus creating 

deeper new entities in a swirling dynamic.

 

In whilst for the portraits of a bearded man (a study of the 1770 painting by

Gaetano Gandolfi) the artist relies on personal experience, investigating his

role as both son and father as he produces the same figure from memory over

and over again, in a different style every time.

 

Politi’s work has been shown in numerous Italian institutions including the

Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome, MACRO, Rome, and Galleria

d’Arte Moderna, Palermo. Politi has had solo exhibitions in Italy, New York

and Honk Kong.

 

Gianni Politi (b. 1986, Rome) lives and works in Rome. His recent projects

include a performance at Palazzo Barberini, Rome, 2021; a show curated by

Sarah McCrory of sculpture and painting at Monteverdi, Siena; bronzes and

paintings at Fonderia Battaglia, Milan, 2018; paintings at McNamara Art

Projects, Hong Kong, 2018; bronzes at 56 Henry Street, New York, 2018; and

shows at Nomas Foundation, Rome, 2015; MAXXI, Rome, 2015; Galleria

Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome, 2014; Istituto di Cultura Italiana, 

Prague, 2014.