Margherita Manzelli

Margherita Manzelli was born in 1968 in Ravenna and currently lives and works in Milan. Her artistic practice developed through a traditional education during her studies at the Academy of Ravenna, where she achieved an undisputed mastery of the painting medium, particularly oil painting, which she has increasingly utilized since the late 1990s. The artist from Ravenna also engages in performative experimentation, allowing her to create a strong connection between the action of her body, the practice of drawing, and her conceptual vein. "Ideas spin in my head while I’m doing the most disparate things. Then they disappear, sometimes forever. Other times, they stay until only one remains, usually the strongest of all. It’s a bit like tuning the channels of a radio. And when that happens, I don’t rush to draw or paint them. I keep them locked inside my head. It’s become a habit. I like having these images inside a closed space, overlaying them with the things I do throughout the day (…) until the friction between what I see in life and what I see in my head becomes unbearable, and the images in my mind become so vivid they are invasive (…) that’s when things start to take shape in my mind, and I can go and paint them." Through a highly personal interpretation of the real, Margherita Manzelli's painting renews the figurative aspect of Italian art; the artist delves into mental spaces where female figures are the protagonists. These are long-limbed, semi-nude adolescent creatures, with seemingly languid postures that conceal a restless soul; slender, solitary figures with almost nervous physiques, challenging the viewer's gaze, staring directly into their eyes. Both works in the Iannaccone collection present the subject that characterizes Margherita Manzelli's oeuvre: a slender, fragile, and delicate female body. In the work S from 2000, the focal point of the painting is a female body lying on a cube covered with what appears to be a mottled blanket: the woman is lying supine, with her forearms hidden behind her back and her legs hanging down. Her face is turned toward the viewer, seemingly gazing at something beyond the painting; her intensely blue eyes stand out as the facial features that convey emotion, in contrast to a body that appears devoid of vitality. "Everyone uses the means (…) that are congenial to the success of their work. For me, it’s easier to paint thin bodies, I can paint them better. But it’s not because I think they’re more interesting (…) it’s simply because I like them more, they come out better. It’s a matter of formal values, light, and shadows."