Manfredi Beninati

"Art reveals mysteries concerning us as individuals and society, whilst philosophy explains why they are there. The moment that an artist turns philosopher (which happens often) then things don’t work anymore."[1]

After dropping out of both law and film school and collaborating with well-known Italian directors, Manfredi Beninati began working as an artist, devoting himself to drawing. He spent some time in Spain and England and, in 2002, when he came back to Italy, he began to make sculptures and figurative paintings that drew directly on real or (often) imaginary childhood memories. Beninati first started studying law then switched to film courses in the early 1990s while working as an assistant director in the Italian film industry. In 1994 he moved to London where he started working as a visual artist. In 2005 he was selected as one of four artists to represent his country at the 51 Venice Biennale[2] where he received the audience award for the Italian pavilion. In 2006 he was given a fellowship at the American Academy in Rome as part of the Rome Prize.[3] He currently lives and works in Palermo, Rome and Los Angeles where, together with his wife Milena Muzquiz (of Los Super Elegantes) he has founded an experimental theatre group. He is represented by James Cohan Gallery in New York, Tomio Koyama in Tokyo and Galleria Lorcan O'Neill in Rome.

In 2014 Beninati has had a solo show titled Nature is a Theatre at Inside-Out Art Museum in Beijing[4] and in 2016 the Museo Civico in Castelbuono (Italy) has dedicated an anthological exhibition covering the first fifteen years of Beninati's work.[5]

Beninati is also a patron of Italian cultural heritage, organizing exhibitions, workshops, seminars and producing publications on Italian talents, through a foundation he and his mother set up in the memory of his younger brother Flavio.[6] Recent projects he has curated include a series of talks on Italian design and a workshop on architecture icon Aldo Rossi held by American architect Thomas Tsang[7][8] in Hong Kong and Palermo.

Beninati also writes fictional books under various pseudonyms.

• He has collaborated with Turkish fashion designer Rifat Ozbek on a dress[9] commission by fashion bi-annual Another Magazine in 2007.
• His work has appeared in a number of feature films such as, recently, Melissa P. and Flashbacks of a Fool.
• The 2009 album Maboroshi (E. Ishibashi, G. Gebbia and D. Camarda) features two of Beninati's paintings on the front and back covers.

Beninati's paintings and drawings often seem to lack subject and order: through the use of stratification, he seeks a non-hierarchical balance in which all the objects are portrayed on the same plane. Be it a household interior or an imaginary landscape, every sort of setting has the same value and becomes a chance to seek new order. Thanks to his fluid brushstrokes, the artist plays with color gradations and glazes to recreate a rarefied, and sometimes unreal, atmosphere, describing figures that seem to slowly emerge from an often dreamlike, imaginary background. Beninati's pictorial production is intrinsically bound to installations that appear to be deserted sets, spaces that are often inaccessible and that the viewer can only observe through cracks or darkened glass (Venice Biennale 2005, XV Quadriennale of Rome 2008), soliciting a sort of voyeurism which violates the private sphere and the indefiniteness of memory. The artist works elaborate, through drawings, oil colours and installations, fragments of an inner world, with literary and artistic references. Beninati is part of the younger generation of painters, and he makes pictures in a style that plugs right into the international contemporary aesthetic. He is the kind of artist who a lot of younger people could identify with. His paintings are loose and washy figurative dreamscapes that make the viewer feel as if there's a thick gauze on the surface of the painting and a story book world floating behind it.

In Beninati's uncanny vision, natural elements penetrate interior spaces in lyric images that transport the viewer into new aesthetic terrain. The artist's sensitive use of the materials fosters the visual ease essential to those who experience his ephemeral images. These works elicit a fantasy world where man-made places are combined with natural forms, to provide an escape into an arena of sensuous harmony.

The otherworldly nature of this Sicilian artist's soft focus dreamscapes is reminiscent of a childhood of fairytales. Beninati's figurative works reflect a state of innocence that exists behind the subtlety of pastels and candy colours. His paintings depicting children surrounded by flora and fauna seen through layers of light and softly applied colour have been described as "somewhere between Bosch, Renoir and Thomas Kinkead".

The work of this prolific (and skilful) painter orbits around memories of childhood and adolescence. The images are dreamy, sometimes verging on nightmarish, with some details rendered with great precision while others are left out of focus, seemingly smudged out. This is a quality both dreams and memories have in common and it is one which is pleasant and worrying at the same time - it gives these works a certain magnetism.

"(...) Even so, some of the pieces I liked most are best seen at night. To view the installation by Italian Manfredi Beninati you have to look through a window punched through the wall of a derelict building in the city centre. Standing there in the cold and dark, you are confronted with a vision of complete human happiness — a brightly lit drawing room with comfortable sofa and chairs, carpets, books, flowers, and a view through the window onto a tropical sunset. Newspapers and toys, a dolls’ house, and the tools dad is using to build a toy theatre lie scattered on the floor. But just as you are taking all this in, something moves and for the first time you notice the sinister figure looking in at the scene from the other the direction. It takes a split second to realise that what you are seeing is your own reflection in the mirror hanging on the back wall. Beninati neatly demonstrates what it must be like to be on the outside looking in - to see comfort, warmth, love, and security but not to be a part of it. Wonderful. (...)" [10]

• Zabludowicz Collection, Sarvisalo, London, New York[17]
• Logan Collection, Denver
• Lodeveans Collection, London[18]
• MAXXI - Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Rome[19]
• UBS Art Collection

• IOAM - Inside-Out Art Museum, Beijing, 2013
• Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship, 2010 [20]
• Rome Prize, American Academy in Rome, 2006
• Audience award – Italian pavilion, 51 Venice biennale, 2005
• Darc Prize for young Italian art, 2004

• Manfredi Beninati, "In an empty glass", Liverpool biennial catalog, 2008
• Manfredi Beninati, "Une image fixe vous tient en dehors d'elle-meme", Ligeia, 2006 (PDF in French)

• L. Poggiali, "Manfredi Beninati. Paintings", Cambi Editore, 2017 (ISBN 9788864032573)
• Jesse Russell, "Manfredi Beninati", Book on Demand Pod (ISBN 9785508627973)
• L. Barreca, V. Bruschi, J. Lane, F. Stocchi, N. Cullinan, "Manfredi Beninati", Arianna, January 2017 (ISBN 9788899981006)
• Sergio Risaliti, "Manfredi Beninati", Carlo Cambi Editore, December 2016 (ISBN 9788864032429)
• Giorgio Guglielmino, "This is now. A Geographical Guide to Cutting-Edge Contemporary Art", Umberto Allemandi & C., 2013 (ISBN 8842222658 | ISBN 9788842222651)
• M. Meneguzzo, B. Di Marino, A. La Porta, "Artisti nello spazio.Da Lucio Fontana a oggi: gli ambienti nell'arte italiana", Silvana Editoriale, 2013 (ISBN 9788836627530)
• Pier Paolo Pancotto, "Manfredi Beninati", Artforum, May 2013
• Simona Cresci, "Manfredi Beninati", Flash Art, May/June 2013
• Helga Marsala, "In memoria di Flavio Beninati. Presentata a Palermo l’associazione...", Artribune, May 2013
• Chiara Natali, "Gli sguardi transitori di Beninati", Artribune, March 2013
• Sam Thorne, "2nd Mardin Biennial", Frieze, March 2013
• Linda De Sanctis, "Malinconico Beninati dipinti sospesi nel tempo", La Repubblica, March 2013
• "Manfredi Beninati – New Paintings", ContemporaryArt, February 2013
• Samuele Menin, Speciale pittura: Manfredi Beninati, Flash Art, February 2013
• Sabine Küper-Büsch, Genau hinsehen:Die Kunst-Biennale von Mardin, Kunstforum, 2012/2013
• Catherine Wagley, "The Public Does Not Need Experts", Art Voices Magazine, October 2012
• Aysegul Somneza, "İkinci bakışı hak etmek", Radikal Hayat, October 2012
• Paola Nicita, "Shanghai chiama Palermo", La Repubblica - Pa, October 2012
• "Arte: sara' Palermo a rappresentare l'Italia alla Biennale di Shanghai", La Repubblica, October 2012
• "Tutta la felicità di Palermo a Shanghai. Undici artisti tra storia antichissima e contemporaneo, alla IX Biennale della città cinese", Exibart, October 2012
• Sara Schifano, "Palermo felicissima alla biennale di Shanghai", Grazia, October 2012
• Helga Marsala, "Palermo Felicissima… del suo debutto in Cina", Artribune, October 2012
• "Arte: sara' Palermo a rappresentare l'Italia alla Biennale di Shanghai", Libero, 1 October 2012
• Yazgülü Aldoğan, "Sergiye gittik, çukura düştük! - Mardin’e yakışmış", Posta, September 2012
• Ezgi Atabilen, "Mardin Bienali açıldı", Haber Abone, September 2012
• Sabine Kuper, "Tour the 2nd Mardin Biennial", InEnArt, September 2012
• AA.VV., "9th Shanghai Biennale - City Pavilions", Catalog, September 2012
• Ezgi Atabilen, "Kahvede bienal var", Hurriyet, September 2012
• Talya Arditi, "The 2nd Mardin Biennial", The guide Istanbul, September 2012
• "Şehirle iç içe geçmiş bir bienal: Mardin", A Plus Yasam, September 2012
• "Palermo, creativa e 'felicissima'", L'Espresso, September 2012
• Rocky Casale, "Visual culture", New York Times, T-Magazine, Summer 2012
• Jean-Paul Gavard-Perret, "Le petit interview intempestif de Manfredi Beninati", Arts-up, 2012
• Helga Marsala, "Palermo, la felicità di volare in Cina. Unica città italiana alla biennale di Shanghai", Artribune, August 2012
• "Videointervista a Manfredi Beninati", RizzutoArte.com, 2012
• Louisa Avgita, 3rd Thessaloniki Biennale, Artforum, December 2011
• Giusi Diana, "Manfredi Beninati. Le voci di dentro", Il Giornale dell'Arte, 2011
• Diego Marras, "Case. Il lavoro del tempo: Manfredi Beninati", Chiodo Fisso, RAI Radio3, 2011
• Lowenna Waters, "Interview with Manfredi Beninati", The White Review, 2011
• Gema Melgar, "Manfredi Beninati: El arte nos revela misterios, la filosofia trata luego de explicarnoslos", Esfera Critica, 2011
• Raimundas Malasauskas, "Conversation", Nero Magazine, 2011
• Paolo Manazza, "L' Italian Beauty seduce la Grande Mela", Corriere della Sera, febbraio 2011
• Giovanni Iovane, "Archive Fever", Exibart, 2011
• P. Nicita, "Le voci di dentro dipinte da Beninati", La Repubblica, 2011
• A. Golovkov, "Labyrinth: the artist Manfredi Beninati", Peremeny, 2011
• Giuseppe Blando, "Le voci di dentro alla galleria Pantaleone", Cassaroute, 2011
• "Civitella Ranieri Foundation Announces Fellows for 2011", Artforum, 2010
• "Work of the week: Manfredi Beninati", Rich Pepper, 2010
• Lowenna Waters, "Manfredi Beninati: Dicembre 2039", Haus Magazine, November 2010
• "Manfredi Beninati: Dicembre 2039", Cura Magazine, 2010
• William Sansom, "Video-interview: Manfredi Beninati. Dicembre 2039", Max Wigram Gallery, 2010
• S. Troisi, "Il museo RISO indaga sul contemporaneo", La Repubblica, 2010
• M. F. Kittler, "Manfredi Beninati. Dicembre 2039", ArtRabbit, 2010
• L. Beatrice, "Da che arte stai? Una storia revisionista dell'arte italiana", Rizzoli, 2010 (ISBN 9788817037839)
• Raffaella Guidobono, "Manfredi Beninati, video-intervista", Nautoscopio TV 2010
• Mike Brennan, "Identity in transformation: Italian contemporary art", Modern Edition, 2010
• Pier Paolo Pancotto, "Arte Contemporanea dal Minimalismo alle Ultime Tendenze", Carocci Editore, 2010 (ISBN 9788843049615)
• Luigi Meneghelli, "Memento", Exhibition Catalog 2010
• W. A. Kościelniak, "the Inner Child", Kiabakari Snippets, 2010
• F. Mastrolilli, "Tornare ad Arévalo", il Foglio, 2010
• Paolo Manazza, "Appendere al muro un capitale", Corriere della sera, 2010
• Lea Mattarella, "100 Artisti da comprare: Manfredi Beninati", Arte, Giorgio Mondadori 2010
• Daniele Perra, "A spasso tra le gallerie più cool di Londra", Luxury de il Sole 24 Ore, 2010
• Nicola Trezzi, Barbara Spinelli, Gea Politi, "Prague Biennale 4/Prague Biennale Photo 1", Giancarlo Politi Editore 2010 (ISBN 8878161497, ISBN 9788878161498)
• Harriet Häussler and Aeneas Bastian, "Aus Künstlersicht – According to the Artists", Kerber Verlag 2009
• Monica Pignatti Morano, "Le Collezioni 1958-2008, Catalogo generale del MAXXI _ Manfredi Beninati", Electa 2009
• Layla Bloom, "Obsession, Contemporary Art from the Lodeveans Collection" (Catalog), University of Leeds Press 2009
• Silvia Pegoraro, "Catalogo dei viventi", Marsilio editore, 2009
• "The 20 Azzurri at the Venice Biennale", Inside Art Magazine, 2009
• Francesca Felletti, "Interurbana: al telefono con Manfredi Beninati", Urban Magazine, #77, 2009
• A. Troncone, "Catalogue of the S.A.C.S. Archives 2009 - Manfredi Beninati, Skira 2009 (ISBN 887624722X)
• L. Beatrice e B. Buscaroli, "Padiglione Italia", L'uomo Vogue, 2009
• Nadia Argiropoulou, "Heaven - Manfredi Beninati", Catalog of 2nd Athens Biennale 2009
• Jennifer Higgie, Dan Fox and Barbara Casavecchia, "Written on water", Frieze 2009
• Beatrice Buscaroli, "Padiglione Italia. Collaudi - Biennale di Venezia", Silvana Editore, 2009
• "Prague Biennale 4", Catalog, Politi Editore, 2009
• Laura Larcan, "Fare mondi, la Biennale di Venezia non si lascia spaventare dalla crisi", la Repubblica, 2009
• AAVV, "Biennale di Venezia: gli artisti di "Collaudi"", XL de la Repubblica, 2009
• Salvatore Bellavia, "Incontro con Manfredi Beninati", Cura Magazine, 2009
• Arika Suminaga, Satoko Hamada "Manfredi Beninati, Interview 2009, TKG Tokyo, 2009
• Richard Cork , "Liverpool unleashed", Financial Times, 11 October 2008
• Christopher Brown, "To Think Of Something peers into another world", Metro London, 28 September 2008
• Rachel Campbell-Johnston, "Biennial at Liverpool", The Times, 22 September 2008
• Richard Dorment, "Liverpool Biennial: 'Made Up'", The Daily Telegraph, 22 September 2008
• David Smith, "It’s a long way from incey-wincey", The Guardian, 20 September 2008
• Alfred Hickling, "Liverpool Biennial: a guide to avoid going round in circles", The Guardian, September 2008
• Michael Glover, "Magical mystery tour: The Liverpool art biennial", The Independent, 20 September 2008
• Sorcha Carey, "Manfredi Beninati", Liverpool Biennial Catalog, September 2008
• Natalie Liechti, "Manfredi Beninati: La Natura Morta", Flavorpill, September 2008
• Jennifer Landes, "So Many Grains of Meaning at the Parrish", The East Hampton Star, 12 August 2008
• Emily Verla Bovino, "15th Quadriennale of Rome", Artforum, August 2008
• Lea Mattarella, "La carica dei cento alla Quadriennale", La Stampa, 7 July 2008
• Gabrielle Selz, "Shifting Sands", Newsday, July 2008
• Julie Cirelli, "Manfredi Beninati", in Tema Celeste, July/August 2007
• Laura Barreca, "Manfredi Beninati: the painter of dreamland", in NYarts, Sept/October 2007
• Art 38 Basel, Hatje Cantz, 2007 (ISBN 3775719059, ISBN 9783775719056)
• Gianluca Marziani, "The eden of memories", in Numèro Beautè, July/August 2007
• Mary Hrbacek, "Manfredi Beninati: Flavio and Palermo", in NYarts, May/June 2007
• Norma Mangione, "Artist on a bet - Interview with Manfredi Beninati", in UOVO #13, May 2007
• E. S., "Parallel Worlds", in Domus, May 2007
• Franco Speroni, "Manfredi Beninati, Giuseppe Stamponi" in Extrart, April 2007
• "Goings On About Town: Manfredi Beninati", in The New Yorker, 13 March 2007
• Roberta Smith, "Manfredi Beninati at James Cohan Gallery", in The New York Times, March 2007
• R. C. Baker, "Best in show: Manfredi Beninati", in The Village Voice, February 2007
• Laura Laurenzi, "E dove sono i Sette Colli? la vacanza romana di Laura", La Repubblica, 2007
• Susanna Bianchini, Arcos: C'era una volta un re..., in Teknemedia, Ottobre 2006
• C'era una volta un re... - Manfredi Beninati, exhibition catalogue, October 2006 (ISBN 8837049765)
• Matthew J. Westerby, "Negotiating Reality", Exhibition catalog, September 2006
• Figuring the landscape at Contemporary Art Galleries, in ArtDaily, September 2006
• Lisa Paul Streitfeld, Landscape with a difference – A mesmerizing, surprising exhibition by eight artists at Uconn Galleries, in Art Review, sept. 2006
• Francesco Stocchi, "Manfredi Beninati", in Flash Art n.259, Aug/Sept. 2006
• "Manfredi Beninati articles and reviews", James Cohan Gallery
• Nicholas Cullinan, "Manfredi Beninati", in Contemporary Magazine Annual, 2006
• Pio Baldi, MAXXI, Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, Electa 2006 (ISBN 8837044585)
• Tobias Verlende, "La Biennale", in NY Arts, January/February 2006
• Jonathan Turner, "Reviews: Manfredi Beninati", in ARTnews n.10, November 2005
• Nicholas Cullinan, "Manfredi Beninati", in Tema Celeste n.112, November/December 2005
• Francesco Stocchi, "Manfredi Beninati", in Artforum, September 2005
• Alexander Kotlomanov, "This is so contemporary, contemporary, contemporary!", NoMI Magazine - #3, 2005
• Elena del Drago, "L'arte penetra nell'emotività domestica", in Il Manifesto, 28 August 2005
• Thomas Wulffen, "Die aktuelle Zeitschrift für alle Bereiche der Bildenden Kunst", Kunstforum International, 2005
• Marcello Smarrelli, "Reviews: Manfredi Beninati", in Flash Art, July/August 2005
• Javier Hontoria, "Las naciones del arte. 51 bienal de Venecia:Pabellones", in El Mundo (El cultural), 16–22 June 2005
• Monica Pignatti Morano, Paolo Colombo, "Premio per la giovane arte italiana 2004-2005", Electa, 2005 (ISBN 8837037759)
• Pier Paolo Pancotto, "La memoria sottotraccia nelle sculture di Beninati",in L'Unità, 3 June 2005
• Silvia Pegoraro, "I misteri fiabeschi di Manfredi Beninati", in Il Messaggero, 2 June 2005
• Paolo Colombo, "Quattro opere per il MAXXI", Venice Biennale catalogue, Ed. Electa 2005
• Ludovico Pratesi, "Fuga dalla realtà, Venice Biennale catalogue", Ed. Electa 2005
• Mariuccia Casadio, "Grow a mushroom", in Vogue Italia, September 2005
• Beatrice Buscaroli, "Generazione invisibile", Venice Biennale catalogue, Ed. Electa 2005
• Lavinia Filippi, "Manfredi Beninati", in Exibart on Paper, March 2005
• JJ Charlesworth, "After the Flood". In "Expander". Catalogue. London, 2004
• Laura Barreca, "Expander alla Royal academy of Art di Londra", in Arte e Critica, n. 40 October/December 2004
• Riccardo Notte, "Tra senso e sensorio". In "XIV Esposizione Quadriennale d’Arte di Roma. Anteprima", De Luca Editore, 2004
• Gianluca Marziani, "Uno sguardo oltre la modernità", in Lo Specchio de La Stampa, 10 January 2004
• Laura Barreca, "Generazione lo(w)-fi. Artisti italiani a "bassa fedeltà"", in Arte e Critica, n. 38 April/June 2004
• Beatrice Buscaroli, "Un’anteprima di pittori e di pittura", Il domenicale, 4 March 2004
• Emilia Giorgi, "Manfredi Beninati", in "Le Collezioni. Acquisizioni di arte contemporanea. MAXXI", 2003
• Patrizia Ferri, "Manfredi Beninati", in Flash Art, August/September 2003
• Lea Mattarella, "La quadriennale si veste di nuovo e si divide per tre", in La stampa, 14 November 2003
• Pier Paolo Pancotto, "Manfredi Beninati, Ricordi soffusi di paesaggi", in L’Unità, 20 July 2003
• Gianluca Marziani, "Manfredi Beninati plasma l’arte sul tavolo da cucina", in La Stampa - Roma, 28 giugno 2003
• Ludovico Pratesi, "Quelle luci surreali sulle tele di Beninati", in La Repubblica - Roma, 17 July 2003
• Laura Barreca, "Manfredi beninati", in Exibart, June 2003
• Lorcan O’Neill, "Manfredi Beninati", in Dizionario della Giovane Arte Italiana 1, May 2003
• Gianluca Marziani, "Manfredi Beninati", in Catalogo della mostra "Www.plot.@rt". November 2002

• Official website
• FLICKR IMAGES
• Manfredi Beninati on JAMES COHAN GALLERY website
• Manfredi Beninati on GALLERIA LORCAN O'NEILL website
• Beninati on MAX WIGRAM GALLERY website
• TOMIO KOYAMA website
• From Chinese Wedding Cakes to Manfredi Beninati
• Manfredi Beninati on RE-TITLE.com