LONDON.- Cortesi Gallery presents a solo exhibition at the London gallery by the Italian artist Marcello Morandini. Marcello Morandini was born in 1940 in Mantua and studied at the Brera Art Academy in Milan before moving to Varese where he still lives and works. Morandini, who has always been interested in art as knowledge and cultural enrichment, architecture as habitat and utopia, design as ergonomics and aesthetics, has become one of the major representatives of Concrete Art and Design in Europe with important exhibitions and public installations worldwide. Morandini's work has been exhibited internationally in solo and group exhibitions at: Galleria del Deposito, Genoa, 1965; IX Biennale d'Arte Moderna, São Paulo, 1967; XXXIV Venice Bienniale, 1968; Kestnergesellschaft, Hannover, 1972; Documenta 6, Kassel, 1977; Documenta Urbana, Kassel, 1982; Die Neue Sammlung, Munich, 1993; Wilhelm Hack Museum, Ludwigshafen, 1994; Museo d'Arte Moderna, Castello di Masnago, Varese, 2006; Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna Ca'Pesaro, Venice, 2008; National Museum of China, Beijing, 2011; Kunstmuseum, Bayreuth, 2014.

Morandini is one of the major representatives of Concrete Art and Design in Europe. Since 1964 he has been interested in art as knowledge and cultural enrichment, architecture as habitat and utopia, design as ergonomics and aesthetics.

Morandini attended the Brera Art Academy in Milan completing his studies in 1962. In 1964 he began creating his first three-dimensional works, exhibited in 1965 in his first solo show in Genoa, curated by Germano Celant. In 1967 Morandini’s work was included in the IX Biennial of São Paulo in Brazil and in 1968 he was invited to participate in the 34th Venice Biennale. In the early 1970s, Morandini started collaborating with the gallery owner Carl Laszlo in Basel, which resulted in artist’s important solo exhibition at the Kestnergesellschaft, Hanover in 1972.

In 1977 he was invited to documenta 6 in Kassel and subsequently to the Civic Museums of Varese, where he organized the second “International Symposium of Constructive Art Studies” with H. Heinz Holz. In 1978 he exhibited in six museums around Europe from Italy to Austria, Sweden and Germany.

In the early 1980s Morandini began a long collaboration with the architectural studios of Mario Miraglia in Varese and Ong & Ong in Singapore. In 1982, together with Attilio Marcolli, he was invited to “Documenta Urbana” in Kassel. From 1984 Morandini spent a period in Japan, giving him the opportunity to expand his network of contacts, where he got in touch with architectural studios and exhibited in various museums. In the same year in Germany, Morandini created a project for the 220m façade of the Thomas porcelain factory in Speichersdorf. The year 1987 was a period of important collaborations with the Rosenthal Company in Selb (Bavaria) for which he created a 34m high façade building project. In 1988 Peter Volkwein, the director of the Ingolstadt Museum für Konkrete Kunst, commissioned a 40m sculpture as the external symbol of the museum. In 1991 Morandini worked on an architectural project for a commercial building of 34 floors in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In 1985 Morandini organised three important exhibitions: the first was at the AXIS in Tokyo; then at the Kunstmuseum Bochum; and finally one in Verona, at the Museo di Castelvecchio.

In 1986-1987 he continued exhibiting in Darmstadt, Düsseldorf, Mannheim and Helsinki.

Among other significant shows, Morandini held his first anthological exhibition of art and design in 1992 at the Die Neue Sammlung in Munich followed by an exhibition at the Palácio Galveias in Lisbon.

Two years later, Morandini was appointed member of the jury of the Essen Design Center and also president of the International Museum of Ceramic Design in Laveno (Varese). He was also elected Honorary Member of the Royal Designers for Industry in London.

From 1995 to 2007, Morandini held various positions as professor of art and design at the Summer Academy in Salzburg and subsequently as a visiting professor at the Écal School in Lausanne, HEAA Watch School in La Chaux-deFonds and finally at the Brera Art Academy in Milan.

In 2004 Morandini coordinated the “Living Venice 3” project at the IUAV University in Venice and created a large-scale sculpture commission for the Wilhelm-Hack-Museum.

In 2005 the artist held an exhibition of art and design at the Europäisches Industrie Museum für Porzellan in Plößberg, the Fürstenberg Museum and a solo show at the new Ritter Museum in Waldenbuch.

During the Biennale of Architecture in 2008, the Ca’ Pesaro Museum in Venice housed an exhibition on Morandini which travelled to the Neues Museum in Nürnberg the following year.

In 2010 he realised an 11m sculpture as the symbol of the Europäisches Industrie Museum in Plößberg, a tribute to Philip Rosenthal.

In 2014 Morandini exhibited at the Kunstmuseum of Bayreuth, in Germany and at the National Gallery of Modern Art of Rome in Italy.