Lugano
Luigi Ontani was born on November 24, 1943, in Vergato, near Bologna. As a young man, he developed an interest in literature through contemporary authors such as Pasolini, Apollinaire, Joyce, Savinio, Marinetti, and the Futurists, and showed an early inclination toward poetry. His time in Turin for military service, between 1963 and 1964, gave him the opportunity to visit museums and galleries, especially those active in the avant-garde scene. During this period, he established his first connections with gallerists and emerging artists.
Starting in the 1970s, Ontani began his artistic journey, experimenting with various techniques—including photography, painting, and sculpture using different materials—and using his own body to explore the ambiguity and complexity of human nature. He approached these diverse media as opportunities to explore new possibilities and to develop variations on the themes and subjects that most fascinated him: his “trans-historical” journey through myth, masks, symbolism, and iconographic representation.
His work has been exhibited in some of the world’s most important museums and galleries, including the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Centre Pompidou, the Museo Reina Sofía, and the Frankfurter Kunstverein. He has also taken part in several editions of the Venice Biennale, as well as the biennials of Sydney and Lyon. Major retrospectives of his work have been held at the MoMA (2001), the SMAK in Ghent (2003–2004), and in 2008 he presented a large solo exhibition at the MAMbo in Bologna, followed by shows at the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples (2010), the Castello di Rivoli in Turin (2011–2012), and the GAMeC in Bergamo (2014–2015).
