Gabriella Furlani

Born in 1951

Venezuela

date of insertion W.A.D. 10/2021

Biography

I was born in Venezuela into a family of Tuscan-Friulian origins. When I came back to Italy, I was very young but immediately a sense of nostalgia for places and people has developed inside me. In my works I always search for nature and a lost world, along with an attention to the ecological and environmental problems, and the relation between past and present. I can convey all of these nuances in the design, painting, sculpture, and in installations of my works through natural elements and various techniques, such as fresco and silverpoint, making in huge spaces new and contemporary thanks to the addition of optical fibres and synthetic resins. After the graduation at Liceo Scientifico Cicognini in Prato, I attended Accademia delle Belle Arti in Florence, graduating in 1972 with a thesis on Constantin Brancusi. In the same year, I received the award “Premio Fondazione Tiratelli” from Accademia Nazionale S. Luca in Rome.

These years became fundamental for my artistic career thanks to several meetings with students, teachers and professors. Together with some of them, I found the group Cooperativa FirenzeUno, located in Borgo Santa Croce in Florence, and here I exhibited for the first time Goccia Nera, made by glass fibres, my first work on the ecological and environmental theme.When I came back to Venezuela, I exhibited a series of Eccitoplasmi inside Casa della Cultura in Maracay, together with Arturo Carmassi and Federica Galli. In Italy, I began to teach drawing at Liceo Artistico in Lucca and later I won the chair for plastic disciplines at Liceo Artistico in Pistoia (1978), adding the teaching to my artistic career. In 1982 I exhibited for the first time the installation Ipotesi di Viaggio in Palazzo Pretorio (Prato), presented by Amnon Barzel.

From that moment my effort and my love for art have become unconditional.The various and continuous travels around the world along with the exchange and fusion with other cultures have expanded my horizon and my view. In my career, along with personal and collective works in Italy and abroad, I had the chance to exhibit site-specific works in various museums and to realise environmental permanent works in public, private and worship places. I won some national awards and contests, for example for the realisation of the new chapel and the baptismal font of S. Paolo VI in Concesio (Brescia, 2005) and the inside works in the new church in Verona, Beata Vergine Maria, inaugurated in 2018.

Even in these places I could freely express my emotions and feelings, using some techniques, such as silverpoint, fresco, optical fibres and resins, that have always characterized my artistic research. In recent years, I have collaborated with groups of architects, such as Archingegno, Verona, and MDU Architetti, and with the last one for the iconographic installation inside the new church in Prato, Chiesa della Visitazione.

 About my works have written (selection): Rafael Torrealba, Enrico Mulas, Elvio Natali, Raffaele de Grada, Amnon Barzel, Aquile Ortiz, Gianni Pozzi, Stefania Gori, Bruno Corà, Alberto Batisti, Carmela Perucchetti, Paola Ballerini, Michela Valotti, Claudio Cerretelli, Franco Patruno, Giuseppe Billi, Mariano Apa, Carlo Chenis, Luca Nannipieri, Erica Romano, Giuseppe Alberto Centauro, Laura Monaldi.

Curriculum

Works in Museums and Collections ( selection):

Venezuela, Maracay, Museo De Arte; Romania, Timisoara, Mitropolia Banatului collection; Concesio (Brescia), Museo collezione Paolo VI; Milano, Fondazione Mantovani collection; Verona, Fondazione Toniolo collection; San Gabriele (Teramo), Fondazione Stauròs collection; Prato, Museo Civico, Palio della Palla grossa ed. 1992; Prato, Museo Arte Sacra Pieve Figline; Prato, Museo Opera del Duomo, Bozzetti Premio S. Stefano; Prato,  Museo San Domenico sezione contemporanea; Prato, Museo Casa Datini; Prato, Fondazione Opera Santa Rita collection; Firenze, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, collective work Parliamo tanto di lui and Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, with works from Carlo Palli collection; Siena, Museo  Santa Maria della Scala, Libro d’artista, inside Biblioteca Fondazione Briganti.

Personal works (selection):

2017 Brescia, San Zenone all’Arco, In punta d’argento, curated by Carmela Perucchetti.

2012 Brescia, San Zenone all’ Arco, Aquae, curated by Associazione per l’Arte“Le stelle.”

2008 Roma, Galleria la Pigna, Palazzo Maffei Marescotti, Quanto mirabile è.

Prato, Antiche Sale di S. Caterina e Cassero Medievale, Invisibili atomi di vento,     curated by Paola Ballerini.

2007 Brescia, Sala Piamarta, Splende nel giorno ottavo, curated by Carmela Perucchetti.

2006 Napoli, Museo di Santa Chiara, Sala dei Marmi, Ottavo Giorno, curated by Fausto Moreschi.

2005 Verona, Spazioarte Pisanello, Dal caos alla luce, presented by Carmela Perucchetti.

2000 Prato, Grafio, Sitio, presented by Paola Ballerini / Ferrara, Casa Giorgio Cini, Pareti     di Silenzio, presented by Franco Patruno.

1998 Prato, Opere-works, edited by Alberto Batisti, Ed. il Ponte Firenze.

1994 Milano, Fondazione Mantovani, In punta di note, curated by Lio Selva.

1993 Prato, Palazzo Pretorio, Umidi frammenti, presented by Stefania Gori.

1989 Firenze, Ponte a Mensola, Nella casa del Boccaccio, curated by D. Cinelli Colombini and A. Brenda.

1988 Prato, Galleria Cepac, Filiazioni, presented by Elvio Natali.

1986 Prato, Galleria la Spirale, Reperti-Eccitoplasmi.

Collective works (selection):

2021 Prato, Museo San Domenico Noli me tangere, curated by Laura Monaldi Prato, Ridotto Teatro Politeama, Pablito: un mito, edited by Archivio Carlo Palli.

2020   Firenze, Accademia delle Arti del Disegno I ragazzi della via…Palli Firenze, Biblioteca Umanistica di Storia dell’Arte dell’Università di Firenze, In punta di piedi, presented by Erica Romano and Silvia Bellotti.

2018 Prato, Galleria FarsettiArte, Donne. Eccellenze pratesi edited by Laura Monaldi.

2017 Siena, , Museo della Scala, Biblioteca Briganti, Librartis, curated by Fabio Mazzieri.

2016 Amboise (Francia), Museum of the Castle of Clos Lucè, “Leonardo du Clos lucé au Louvre”, les trois chefs- d’oeuvre de Leonard de Vinci, curated by Alessandro Vezzosi.

2015 Brugherio (Milano), Galleria Palazzo Ghirlanda Silva, Acqua- Elementi Heart book       Siena, artist books travelling exhibition Librartis, curated by Fabio Mazzieri              Siena,  Magazzini del Sale. A cavallo dell’anno 2015/2016.

2013 Firenze, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Parliamo tanto di..Lui.., from Carlo Palli collection.

2012  Passau (Germania), Diozesanmuseum, Das Hohelied der Liebe. Cantico dei cantici, in collaboration with Associazione per l’Arte “Le Stelle” of Brescia and Europaischen Wochen Passau.

2005   Concesio (Brescia), Pieve di S. Andrea, Al crescere della luce San Giovanni Valdarno, Casa Masaccio, Ave gratia plena Lecce, quarta triennale d’arte sacra contemporanea Milano, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Vangelo di Giovanni, curated by Luciano Caramel.

2004   Prato, Museo del Tessuto, Bagliori di seta ed oro Concesio (Brescia), Sulla via della bellezza, two works in Associazione Arte e Spiritualità-Centro Studi Paolo VI permanent collection

2002  Charlottesville (Virginia), U.S.A, Mc Guffey Art Center, side-specific artwork  The sea, the color of wine.

Isola del Gran Sasso, San Gabriele (Teramo) X Biennale d’Arte Sacra Nel segno della Luce, curated by Luciano Caramel, Giuseppe Billi e Carlo Chenis.

2001  Prato, Una collana per Prato, engravings portfolio, curated by Laboratorio, editing by     Bruno Corà.

2000  Roma, Archiospedale Santo Spirito in Saxia, Sala Lancisi, Silenzio e Fuoco, curated by M. Apa and Giuseppe Billi on the occasion of Giubileo degli Artisti  Macerata, Maestri rilegatori per l’“Infinito”, international exhibition of fine bindings  Prato, Museo Pecci, Sala Ovale, Rassegna Artisti del Novecento a Prato- I protagonisti Poggio a Caiano, (Prato) Scuderie Medicee, installation  Il mare color del vino.

1997 Paganico (Grosseto), Lignum Vitae, review of religion art, curated by M. Apa Ebensee (Austria) and  Prato, Palazzo Pretorio – Arte per la pace.

1988 Montepulciano (Siena), Museo Civico, La Piazza: proposte reali e fantastiche Firenze, Centro Arti Visive Modigliani di Scandicci, Temi e Stilemi, presented by Elvio Natali.

1984 Siena, teatro Accademia dei Rozzi, Rassegna artisti italiani contemporanei Prato, Biennale Bilancio Sala Consiliare del Comune di Vaiano.

1983   Prato, Palazzo Pretorio, Civili richiami, side-specific installations.

1982   Prato, Palazzo Pretorio, Ipotesi di viaggio, side-specific installations, edited by Amnon Barzel.

1980 Prato, Palazzo Novellucci, I giovani operatori, presented by Raffaele de Grada.

1979 Fiesole, Palazzina Mangani, Espera campesino, curated by Elvio Natali

1976 Maracay (Venezuela), Casa della Cultura, Carmassi-Furlani-Galli, Pintores contemporaneos, curated by Rafael Torrealba Abbadia San Salvatore (Siena), Ba-deng, artistic interventions in the country, curated by Federico Tiezzi.

1974 Certaldo, Palazzo Pretorio, Operazione artistica per una cultura alternativa di massa, curated by Ugo Barlozzetti.

1973 Prato, Galleria Bencini, Grafica, presented by Armando Meoni Prato, Galleria Falsetti, Grafica della scuola Leonardo, presented by Elvio Natali.

1972 together with the group CF1: Prato, Palazzo Pretorio and Lucca, Palazzo Sani, Giornate popolari della pittura e scultura italiana.

Permanent installations:

Verona: Via crusis-lucis and the panel Buon Pastore for the new Church Beata Vergine Maria (2018) / Cemmo (Brescia):idealization and realization of the work Spazio di preghiera inside Casa Madre delle Dorotee di Cemmo (2012 ) / Siena: a particular of the collective work inside Risalita San Francesco ( 2008) / Valdagno (Vicenza):idealization and realization of Cappella del Patronato Sacro Cuore (2006) / Concesio (Brescia): idealization and realization of Cappella del fonte battesimale of San Paolo VI in Pieve di S. Antonino Martire (2005) / Prato: Cappella del Rosario (1997), idealization and realization of the  iconographic project with permanent installations – inside and outside – in the Casa Generalizia  Domenicane di Santa Maria del Rosario; Nuovo altare dell’Antico Coro (2002) Monastero San Vincenzo; Nuovo spazio absidale e Via Crucis inside the Chiesa di Capezzana (2006). Cappella delle Origini (2018); idealization and realization of the Spazio di preghiera inside Casa Madre delle Domenicane S. Maria del Rosario; installation Il giardino perduto and work on the wall Angeli Lucenti (2019) in Fondazione Opera Santa Rita (ex Cappuccini); altare and Flevit amare, inside the Chiesa San Pietro Grignano (2021).