Flavio e Palermo, 2004, 250x300 cm
pencil+gesso on paper on board
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Manfredi Beninati (Palermo, 1970) is an Italian artist and librarian.

Manfredi has become an artist as a consequence of a bet with his brother Flavio when he was already thirty but has since managed to gain international attention with shows in the United States, the UK, Argentina, Mexico, China, Hong Kong, Greece, Turkey, Japan, Italy, etc.

Since his debut in 2003 he has been invited to participate in many biennials, triennials, quadriennials, as well as museum shows, has received a few awards and his work has become part of many prestigious collections before he has decided – in 2012 – to take a long sabbatical to dedicate his time and efforts to a foundation and a library he set up in his hometown with his mother Carla Garofalo (a criminal lawyer just like his father Gaetano) in the memory of Flavio who died aged 33 in 2006.

He came back to seriously making art in late 2015 and nowadays shares his time between Palermo and Los Angeles.

Prior to undertaking the art career Manfredi had briefly studied law at University of Palermo and then switched to film studies while also working in the Italian film industry mostly as an assistant director.

In March 2018 Beninati has shot his first feature film "L'Epos", titled after the installation he was working on while shooting it.







SOLO SHOWS

2018
- "Manfredi Beninati. Se questo è un sabato", Galleria Poggiali, Milan, Italy
- "Manfredi Beninati. L'Epos", Site-specific installation, Palermo Italy

2017
- "Manfredi Beninati. Paintings", Galleria Poggiali, Florence, Italy

2016
- "Manfredi Beninati", Museo civico di Castelbuono, Italy
- "Manfredi Beninati", Galleria Poggiali, Florence, Italy
- "Manfredi Beninati", Poggiali e Forconi, Pietrasanta, Italy

2014
- "Manfredi Beninati. Nature is a Theater", Miniature Museum, Beijing, China
- "Manfredi Beninati. Christmas is... a world of art", Joyce Gallery, Hong Kong

2013
- "Manfredi Beninati. Il sei novembre del duemilatrentanove", Galleria Lorcan O'Neill, Rome, Italy

2011
- "Manfredi Beninati", Cura Project Space, Rome, Italy
- "Manfredi Beninati. Le voci di dentro" FPAC, Palermo, Italy

2010
- "Manfredi Beninati. Dicembre 2039", Max Wigram Gallery, London, UK

2009
- "Manfredi Beninati. Rearranging the Landscapes around", Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

2008
- "Manfredi Beninati. La natura morta", Max Wigram Gallery, London, UK

2007
- "Manfredi Beninati. La lettera "f"", American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy
- "Manfredi Beninati. Flavio and Palermo (in the summer)", James Cohan Gallery, New York, USA
- "A Flavio", Museo Laboratorio, Città Sant'Angelo (PE), Italy

2006
- "Manfredi Beninati", Galeria Braga Menendez, Buenos Aires, Argentina

2005
- "Manfredi Beninati. Rescued works", Galleria Lorcan O'Neill, Rome, Italy
- "Manfredi Beninati. Drawing cabinet", FPAC, Palermo, Italy
- "Manfredi Beninati. New Paintings", James Cohan Gallery, New York, USA

2003
- "Manfredi Beninati", Galleria Lorcan O'Neill, Rome, Italy



GROUP SHOWS


2018
- "Contemporary Curated", Sotheby's, London, UK

2017
- "The Tour of Molodva in 7 days", Mobile Biennale, Bucharest, Romania/Chisinau, Moldova
- "Fragments from nowherland", Galerie Utopia/ Kunsthochschule, Kassel, Germany

2016
- "Anni Zero. 2016", Gallery of Art - Temple University, Rome, Italy
- "La torre di Babele", Ex Fabbrica Lucchesi/Pecci Museum, Prato, Italy
- "Contemporary Curated - The Erdem Moralioglu's choise", Sotheby's, London, UK
- "Imagine", Brand New Gallery, Milan, Italy
- "Dall'oggi al domani. 24 ore nell'arte contemporanea", MACRO, Rome, Italy
- "Storie e opere", Fondazione Malvina Menegaz, Campobasso, Italy

2015
- "Logo: Beninati, Cucchi, Saccardi", Galleria Poggiali e Forconi, Florence, Italy

2013
- "Artisti nello spazio - Da Lucio Fontana a oggi: gli ambienti nell'arte italiana", Fondazione Rocco Guglielmo, Catanzaro, Italy
- "Outrageous Fortune", Touring Exhibition, Focal Point Gallery, Southend on Sea/ Hayward Gallery, London, UK
- "Party with us. Ten years after", FPAC, Palermo, Italy

2012
- "Double Take", 2nd Mardin Bienali, Mardin, Turkey
- "Reactivation", 9th Shanghai Biennale, Shanghai, China
- "Come una bestia feroce", Bonelli, Mantova, Italy

2011
- "A Rock and a Hard Place", 3rd Thessaloniki Biennale, Thessaloniki, Greece
- "When in Rome", ICI Los Angeles and Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, USA
- "Outrageous Fortune", Touring Exhibition, Focal Point Gallery, Southend on Sea, UK
- "Vanitas!", UCLA, Los Angeles, USA
- "Archive Fever", Open Care, Milano, Italy
- "Premio Maretti", Museo Pecci, Prato, Italy
- "Accademia. Stanze. Persone.", American Academy in Rome, Italy

2010
- "PPS", Riso - Museo Arte Contemporanea di Sicilia, Palermo, Italy
- "Argianas, Beninati, Bradley, Buchler, Hugonnier, Hulusi, White", Max Wigram Gallery, London, UK
- "Memento", La Giarina, Verona, Italy
- "I can't feel my face", Royal T art space, Los Angeles, USA

2009
- "Heaven", 2nd Athens Biennale 2009, Athens, Greece
- "Collaudi", Italian Pavilion, 53 Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
- "The Tree", James Cohan Gallery, Shanghai, China
- "No more than a point of view", Prague Biennial, Prague, Czech Republic
- "Escaping the dead ends", Istanbul Biennale, Istanbul, Turkey
- "Obsession: Contemporary art from the Lodeveans collection", University of Leeds, Leeds, UK
- "Atsushi Fukui, Gert&Uwe Tobias, Manfredi Beninati, Masaya Yoshimura", TKG Editions Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan

2008
- "Made Up", Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK
- "Sand", Parrish Museum, Southampton (NY), USA
- "15th Rome Quadriennale", Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, Italy
- "Imaginary Realities ...", Max Wigram Gallery, London,UK
- "Dream Therapy", Kathleen Cullen Fine Arts, New York, USA
- "Passed as present", York Art Gallery, York, UK

2007
- "Summer Show", James Cohan Gallery, New York, USA
- "Arte italiana 1968-2007. Pittura", Palazzo Reale, Milano, Italy
- "The end begins", The Hospital, London, UK
- "Detour", The Art Directors Club, New York, USA
- "Open Studios", American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy

2006
- "Negotiating reality", Victoria H. Myhren Gallery, University of Denver, Denver, USA
- "C'era una volta un re...", Arcos Museo, Benevento, Italy
- "Figuring the landscape", Contemporary Art Galleries, Storrs (Ct), USA

2005
- "Altmejd, Beninati, Everberg et Margolis", Galerie Ghislaine Hussenot, Paris, France
- "12 painters", Galleria In Arco, AB+, Turin, Italy
- Padiglione Venezia at Giardini, 51 Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy

2004
- "Between the lines", James Cohan Gallery, New York, USA
- "Expander", Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK
- "Summer show", Galleria Lorcan O'Neill, Rome, Italy
- "Wall Paper", GAMeC, Bergamo, Italy

2003
- "Dirty pictures", The Approach Gallery, London, UK
- "Quadriennale di Roma-Anteprima", Palazzo Reale, Naples, Italy
- "Roma 2003", Galleria Pack, Milan, Italy
- "Le collezioni - Recenti acquisizioni", MAXXI - Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo, Rome, Italy



SPECIAL PROJECTS

- "Camillofonìe", music videos (w/ Camillo Amalfi), 2013-ongoing
- "L'Epos - The movie", Film, 95' ca., 2018
- "Manfredi Beninati. L'Epos", interactive installation, 2018
- "Trionfi", Tarot Cards Deck, Nero Publications, 2017
- "The Milky Way 3", Gio Marconi, Milan, 2016
- "Elephant parade", Milan, 2011
- "Outrageous fortune", Focal point and Southbank, UK, 2011
- "Root for trees" project, New York, 2009/2010
- "Dress for Another Magazine", New York, 2007
- "Moleskine's Detour exhibition", New York, 2007
- "My chair", London, 2000



AWARDS

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



COLLECTIONS

- BAT/Peter Stuyvesant Collection, Amsterdam, Netherlands
- CAP Art Collection, Boston, USA
- Civitella Ranieri Foundation, Umbertide, Italy/New York, USA
- Fondazione Menegaz, Castelbasso, Italy
- Haidian Museum, Beijing, China
- Lodeveans Collection, London, UK
- Logan Collection, Denver, USA
- MAXXI - Museo Arti XXI Secolo, Rome, Italy
- UBS Art Collection, London, UK
- Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK, New York, USA


TALKS / LECTURES

- Accademia di Belle Arti, Florence, Italy, 2016
- "I martedi critici: Manfredi Beninati", MACRO - Museo di Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Italy, 2015
- I.O.A. Museum, Beijing, China, 2013
- Civitella Ranieri, Umbertide, Italy, 2012
- Accademia di Belle Arti, Palermo, Italy, 2012
- "Big House", Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK, 2008



CURATORIAL

- "Di amore e di violenza", 2017
- "IT", 2016
- "Mentre il leopardo sbrana l'antilope Okapi", 2015
- "Tofano/Bonaventura", 2015
- "Io disegno", 2014
- "Car.Pe.Pia.Ve", 2013