REGGIO EMILIA.- Collezione Maramotti presents DUE, an exhibition of new work by Margherita Manzelli. The exhibition includes two paintings of equal size on which the artist worked concurrently and which were created specifically for this project. One of the two paintings is dark, the other light, and they are installed symmetrically in the space in order that the tonal contrast will enhance the relationship between the works.

Margherita Manzelli does not work from life or from photographs; she paints once a specific image has taken shape in her mind, allowing the invisible to become manifest.

The images in her paintings represent archetypal female characters positioned often in strained postures and with the intent of returning the figure to a set of formal pictorial values. The backgrounds of the works are almost plausible "sets" that jostle with the figures. This background space has equal importance for the visual whole and creates a dynamic tension of visual refusal and acceptance between the female character and her surroundings.

Margherita Manzelli's exhibitions are often accompanied by a performative element. In the past these gestures anchored the artist to the paintings. More recently, the intensity of these "actions" has been absorbed by the act of painting, an organic shift indicating her desire to bring painting back to its pure state.

Margherita Manzelli was born in 1968 in Ravenna, where she lives and works. Among other exhibitions, she had solo shows at the Art Institute of Chicago (2004), Castello di Rivoli, Turin (2004), MAXXI, Rome (2003) and her works were included in group exhibitions at Palazzo Grassi, Venice (2008), Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2007) and Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (1997).

With this exhibition Collezione Maramotti opens its third year of activity of the space dedicated to specific projects, with works made ad hoc by guest artists.

The pieces enter the permanent Collection in view of the goal of combining acquisition and expansion strategies of the collection with its public viewing.

This space, which is called Pattern room, was the area where in the past, when the building was a production facility, models and prototypes were made. The dimensions of design and experiment have always permeated this space, from the past to the present day.