Mario Minarini, la luce di Firenze nel solco della tradizione pittorica toscana

Spazio Dinamico Arte is currently hosting Mario Minarini's exhibition, "The Colors of Florence." The location, Via dei Ramaglianti 10-12, is particularly evocative, being in a magical part of the city, very close to Ponte Vecchio, in the never-enough-celebrated, bohemian Oltrarno district.

Mario Minarini, the light of Florence in the wake of the Tuscan pictorial tradition

Mario Minarini, Florentine, derives his artistic vein from mother, whose family boasted several sculptors, more than from his father, probably averse by nature, interests and profession, to a less practical orientation than his.

The formative years

After completing his studies at theArt Institute At Porta Romana, Mario Minarini embarked on a significant training in goldsmithing. He worked for 10 years in the firm Meli Jewels, then becomes the owner of a shop on his own. But the passion for painting has always been there, latent, as has the ability to draw.There Verrocchio's workshop – he says – it was essentially a goldsmith's workshop where everyone studied drawing as a springboard for the higher arts. Not to mention Cellini, Ghiberti, and Botticelli.

Probably also Leonardo He began his journey in a goldsmith's workshop. In reality, in jewelry design, one thinks about a three-dimensional problem in a two-dimensional way; in other words, one becomes a sculptor. Then the step towards painting it's short.”

During his career he practiced with various masters, for example in the important studio of Osvaldo Curandai or in the study of Alessandro Berti, another notable Florentine painter. But above all he attended theAcademy of Fine Arts of Florence, specializing in the Free School of the Nude under the expert direction of the historic teacher Sandra Batoni, unfortunately recently passed away.

In truth, in his paintings, more than nudes, one can notice compositions of various kinds and fascinating glimpses of Florence from which nature emerges everywhere, the painter having been born in Caldine, overflows copiously from his soul.

Dynamic Art Space

In the exhibition “Dynamic Art Space” there is, in fact, a lot of composition. “For me the composition it is extremely important, also because it allows us to grasp the connection with thegoldsmith art which lies at the foundation. The precision of the drawing, for example, but more than anything the ability to capture light, to make objects shine, the ability to feel objects, because they speak, I hear them speak.

As Morandi – whose last work still on the easel, after his death, depicted his beloved bottles -, I too live the passion for objects, with some significant differences, however. Few people notice how in my painting there is a search for light and shadow. Probably a metaphor for the light and shadow of life."

Looking at his paintings – some of which can also be partially admired on his beautiful website mariominarini.it (see link) many things are perceived. Without a doubt the contrasts, the light. The sky is very bright. The painter loves the sun. But one also perceives a distance, a depth in every sense, daughter of an evident inner wealth.

“The blue distance, said Hermann Hesse”. And in any case, for an artist to be born and live in a city like Florence It is perhaps the greatest fortune that can happen. “Florence is not an ancient city, it is a contemporary cityEverything can be contemporary. Things that are valuable are always contemporary. There's a bust by Michelangelo, now on display at Palazzo Strozzi, that gave me the shivers. They are masterpieces that erase time."

The painting of Mario Minarini

Painting for Mario Minarini it's a great passion. “I held an important exhibition a few years ago at the Regional Council of Tuscany, which was entitled «Passion».” And politics, which certainly needs passion, paid him the tribute he deserved.

“On the other hand we have to thank the elector of Palatina Maria Luisa de' Medici who saved Florence's masterpieces from the possible plundering that the Lorena family would have carried out had she not donated the entire family estate to our city. In fact, my very first painting, in which I portrayed the Kaffehaus in the Boboli Gardens, speaks volumes about this story.“. The red thread what Mario Minarini often follows in choosing the subjects for his paintings is memory.

“The last important exhibition I did in Certaldo is entitled «Memories of Tuscany». I went to look for Tuscan stories Less well-known but no less important. My paintings always have this yearning for memory, for distance, vaguely nostalgic.

His colors are oil paints, the master technique. The background technique, however, is fundamental. "There Flemish painting He used linseed oil, I used something much cruder: white spirit. I need a "gesture," and also for the base to respond in a certain way, with a certain character.

Let's talk about acrylic plasters, of tempera. Then everything depends on what do you want to paint?For a summer landscape, for example, a warm background is recommended: an orange, a yellow ochre. It is the background that gives character to the painting. heat It's something you can really feel. For a snowfall, I would recommend a blue background, which is quite cold.”

Everything must be turned off

Mario Minarini admits his love for the Russian painting. “Yes, even if it remains very distant, chromatically, from mine. But in the composition and in the landscapes they are very strong. However, I fit into the Tuscan furrow which by tradition never requires a color that is too bright. Everything must be muted, he said. Roses. My teacher, Curandai, he squinted and said: look, Mario, everything is gray. And it's true. And then seeing is not looking, the brain deceives us.

I am fascinated by the philosophy and I'm a big radio listener: the images heard they are much more magical than the ones seen.”

Mario Minarini has many favorite authors because he loves so many different things. Van Gogh it is definitely one of them. “You should read the letters from the great Dutchman to his brother Theo to understand what it means to do this job". A Tuscan who is very close to him is Telemachus Signorini he Macchiaioli in general. Another, who later found great fortune in Paris, is Boldini. Another one is an American who has linked his name to Florence: John Singer Sargent. Without a doubt all masters with a capital "M". We are in the figurative, of course, but he also really likes theabstract art, even if I don't paint it.

The Silver Florin

In December 2008, Mario Minarini, within the framework of the Florence Award, receives in the Hall of the Five Hundred of Old Palace The Silver Florin for the work "Male Mannequin”. “Very nice, but for me it's the past.” However, the past tells us that he has held many exhibitions both in our region and in Italy – in Museum of Music of Bologna, for example -, and at an international level, even between London and South America. “I had a very important journey in Mexico exhibiting at the Chamber of Deputies in Mexico City.”

Currently at Certaldo his works previously exhibited at are institutionally exhibited Bastogi Palace. Paintings of imposing dimensions such as those relating to mannequins.

Mario Minarini awaits you at Spazio Dinamico Arte to show you “The Colors of Florence.” The address is Via dei Ramaglianti 10-12 (map), between Ponte Vecchio and Piazza della Passera. An event not to be missed.

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