In my view and according to how I work, art is linked to aesthetics, Scientia Cognitionis Sensitivae, an emotional approach to knowledge through the involvement of the senses, exactly the opposite of the logical intellectual approach of rational thought.
Emotion certainly comes from the vision of beauty, intended as visual recognition of consolidated standards, but it becomes even more intense and seductive when beholding an image generates a sort of inner vertigo, a personal and mysterious involvement capable of suspending our adherence to the “principle of reality”. This mix of fascination and evocation is all the more effective when there is a direct perception of the work, that is to say, when the fruition of an artwork requires a reduced process of abstraction between the beheld and that which is commonly perceived as real. Here artistic representation looses its theatrical and factitious nature subordinated to naturalistic portrayal and produces absolute and autonomous shapes, thus being redeemed from the triviality of objects by virtue of its independent identity and presence of artefact, or material transposition of the human soul. Therefore, the artwork becomes an archetype, the original and ideal model of perceivable things.
This is how I came to my choice of working on self-referential objects, with the intention of representing nothing more than what they are. Hence my vocation for sculpture, and more specifically for statue making, as a more appropriate form of expression to give a physical presence to ideas. The fetish, the central subject of my work, is not there to represent something, but is the concrete result of the voluntary aggregation of one or more materials, in order to shape all the emotional associations that I feel as belonging to it. The idol-doll, the rag or inflatable animals, translated into the materials of sculpture or transposed into the metaphysical space of the drawing, emerge in our thought as sentimental containers of a primordial original childlike state, where the warmth of an emotional regression to the time of play lives together with the primordial mystery of hieratic depiction. The practice of art resembles its more archaic form of magica religio, through the symbolic projection of a playful totem-like imagery where simplicity and purity, formally transposed into the synthetic plastic presence and emotionally into the sublimation of the toy, are stratified with the deep and unconscious restless load that characterizes the human soul.
Luca Lanzi
Luca Lanzi was born in Bologna in 1977.
He graduated in sculpture from the Clementina Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and was among the recipients of a scholarship offered by the Fondazione Collegio Artistico Venturoli. He subsequently moved to Berlin, where he worked in the Academy's workshops as a guest.
He collaborates with leading galleries in Italy and abroad.
He currently lives and works in Bologna.
About his research has been written: Flaminio Gualdoni, Ian McEwan, Mark Gisbourne, Claudia Casali, Silvia Ferrari, Elisabetta Sassoli de Bianchi, Sabrina Samorì, Silvia Tonelli, Eleonora Frattarolo, Stefano Castelli, Alessandra Redaelli, Viviana Siviero, Stefano Taddei, Francesca Nicoli.
SOLO EXHIBITION
2023 . ALTER EGO Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia
2020 . LAYER Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia
2017 . MALìA Keramion Museum - Colonia, Germania
2017 . HE FASHIONED IT AND BREATHED INTO IT OF HIS SPIRIT - Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Berlino, Germania
2016 . EIKON Collezioni Comunali d’arte, ART CITY Bologna, a cura di Sabrina Samorì - Bologna, Italia
2014 . LA MANO E L’IDOLO Galleria Officine Saffi - Milano, Italia
2014 . MAGICA RELIGIO Palazzo Re Enzo, a cura di Elisabetta Sassoli de’ Bianchi - Bologna, Italia
2013 . LAST TOY Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Berlino, Germania
2012 . SPAZIO MAGICO Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Berlino, Germania. TOTEM Museo Civico Medievale - Bologna, Italia
2010 . FETICCI Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia
2009 . PREVIEW Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia . DOLLS Galleria Lilly Zeligman - Laren, Olanda
2007 . L’ANIMA IN GIOCO Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Berlino, Germania
2006 . PUPPEN Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Berlino, Germania
COLLECTIVE EXHIBITION
2025
. ArteFiera, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia
. ArtKarlsruhe, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Karlsruhe, Germania
2024
. Hamburg Art fair, Galleria Thomas Holtoff - Amburgo, Germania
. Art in Nuvola fiera d’Arte, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Roma, Italia
. Art Factory, Pdb Gallery - Bologna, Italia
. Arte Verona, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Verona, Italia
. ArteFiera, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia
. ArtKarlsruhe, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Karlsruhe, Germania
. ArtFactory, Pdb Gallery - Bologna, Italia
2023
. ArteFiera, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia
. ArtVerona, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Verona, Italia
. ArtKarlsruhe, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Karlsruhe, Germania
2022
. ArteFiera, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia
. ArtVerona, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Verona, Italia
. ArtKarlsruhe, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Karlsruhe, Germania
2021
. ArteFiera, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia
. ArtVerona, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Verona, Italia
. Art fai Hamburg, Galleria Holthoff - Amburgo, Germania
. ArtKarlsruhe, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Karlsruhe, Germania
2019
. ArteFiera, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia
2018
. ArteFiera, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia
2017
. Position Art Fair, Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Berlino, Germania
. Scope Basel Art Fair, Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Basilea, Svizzera
. ArteFiera, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia
2016
. Le Stanze della Meraviglia, Rocchetta Mattei a cura di Eleonora Frattarolo - Bologna, Italia
. Scope Basel Art Fair, Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Basilea, Svizzera
. Scope Basel Art Fair, Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Miami, USA
. Position Art Fair, Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Berlino - Berlino, Germania
. ArteFiera, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia
2015
. 59° Premio Faenza, MIC Museo internazionale delle ceramiche - Faenza, Italia
. Contemporary ceramics, Galleria Officine Saffi - Milano, Italia
. Magica, Palazzo di Varignana - Bologna, Italia
. ArteFiera, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia
2014
. Contemporary Ceramic Art, Galleria MarcoRossi artecontemporanea - Pietrasanta, Italia
. Face Off, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia
. Position Art Fair, Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Berlino, Germania
. That's what I want, Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Berlino, Germania
. ArteFiera, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia
. I am You be, St. Joannes Evangelist-Kirche - Berlino, Germania
2013
. Cologne paper art, Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Berlino, Germania
. ArteFiera, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna
. Hamburg Art Fair, Galleria Lilly Zeligman - Amburgo, Germania
2012
. Forma, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna
. Preview Berlin Art Fair, Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Berlino, Germania
. ArteFiera, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia
. Art Fair Brussels, Galleria Lilly Zeligman - Brussels, Belgio
2011
. Lascia un Segno, Pinacoteca nazionale, a cura di Eleonora Frattarolo - Bologna, Italia
. ArtVerona, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Verona, Italia
. Contemporanea, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Forlì, Italia
. Immagina, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Reggio Emilia, Italia
. Premio Basi, Cave di Roselle - Marina di Grosseto, Italia
. Premio Combat, Bottini dell’olio - Livorno, Italia
. ArteFiera, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia
. Logos, Storie su carta da Oppi a Baechler, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia
. ArtKarlsruhe, Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Karlsruhe, Germania
2010
. Gallerie al Museo, Museo internazionale delle Ceramiche - Faenza, Italia
. ArtVerona, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Verona, Italia
. Contemporanea, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Forlì, Italia
. Immagina, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Reggio Emilia, Italia
. Pagine da un bestiario fantastico, Raccolta del Disegno contemporaneo, Galleria Civica di Modena - Italia
. Wir fahren mit der Luftbahn, Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Berlino, Germania
. MiArt, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Milano, Italia
. ArtKarlsruhe, Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Karlsruhe, Germania
. Simply Drawings, Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Berlino, Germania
. Biennale Roncaglia, San Felice sul Panaro - Modena, Italia
. ArtFair in Naarden, Galleria Lilly Zeligman - Olanda
. ArteFiera, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Bologna, Italia
2009
. Affordable Art Fair, Galleria Lilly Zeligman - Amsterdam, Olanda
. Contemporanea, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Forlì, Italia
. Immagina, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Reggio Emilia, Italia
. ArtVerona, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea – Verona, Italia
. 7x7, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea – Bologna, Italia
. MiArt, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Milano, Italia
. The Wall of Desire, Quadrum Saca, a cura di Laura Villani - Bologna, Italia
. Smooth and gentle, Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Berlino, Germania
. ArtFair in Naarden, Galleria Lilly Zeligman - Olanda
. ObjectRotterdam, Galleria Lilly Zeligman - Rotterdam, Olanda
2008
. ArtVerona, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Verona, Italia
. Contemporanea, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Forlì, Italia
. Immagina, Galleria L’Ariete artecontemporanea - Reggio Emilia, Italia
. 3 Artists of the Gallery, Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Berlino, Germania
. Unicef chiama Arte, Fondazione Cà la Ghironda - Bologna, Italia
2007
. Art Miami, Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Miami, U.S.A.
. Palmbeach3, Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Palmbeach, U.S.A.
. Artists of the Gallery, Galleria Lorch-Seidel - Berlino, Germania
. Collettiva di incisione, lab. Officina dell’Arte, Complesso museale del Barracano - Bologna, Italia
. Collettiva di incisione, lab. Officina dell’Arte - Bolzano, Italia