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The Essence Behind the Light: Maurizio Nannucci at MAXXI

Words by Kiriakos Spirou

Rome, Italy

The Zaha Hadid-designed MAXXI museum in Rome presents one of the largest solo exhibitions to date of influential Italian contemporary artist Maurizio Nannucci. Curated by Bartolomeo Pietromarchi, the exhibition ‘Where to Start From’ presents 30 artworks spanning Nannucci’s entire career, including two new works created just for the event: the sound installation Sound Samples (created in collaboration with Simone Conforti) and More Than Meets the Eye, a large-scale neon work for MAXXI’s facade which will eventually join the museum collection. Using a non-chronological layout that creates a dialogue between historic and newer pieces, the exhibition showcases the richness and diversity of Nannucci’s work, as it features not only the large neon pieces that the artist is so famous for but also photography, audio works and publications edited by Nannucci through his prolific work as art book publisher and editor of art magazine Mèla.

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'Maurizio Nannucci.Where to Start From' installation view. MAXXI Museum, 2015. Photo: Musacchio & Ianniello.

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    'Maurizio Nannucci.Where to Start From' installation view. MAXXI Museum, 2015. Photo: Musacchio & Ianniello.

  • 'Maurizio Nannucci.Where to Start From' installation view. MAXXI Museum, 2015. Photo: Musacchio & Ianniello.

    'Maurizio Nannucci.Where to Start From' installation view. MAXXI Museum, 2015. Photo: Musacchio & Ianniello.

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    'Maurizio Nannucci.Where to Start From' installation view. MAXXI Museum, 2015. Photo: Musacchio & Ianniello.

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    'Maurizio Nannucci.Where to Start From' installation view. MAXXI Museum, 2015. Photo: Musacchio & Ianniello.

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    'Maurizio Nannucci.Where to Start From' installation view. MAXXI Museum, 2015. Photo: Musacchio & Ianniello.

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Maurizio Nannucci, More Than Meets the Eye, 2015. MAXXI Museum. Photo: Musacchio & Ianniello.

A conceptual artist at heart, Nannucci is constantly seeking a certain purity in his work that aims to unsheathe the work of art from its aesthetic shell and expose its experiential essence as immediately and viscerally as possible. In his own words, Nannucci believes that, through his treatment of text and colour in architectural spaces, ‘‘the image transcends the limits of the representation, becoming a mental image, a virtual one, an image born from a dream or a dream with eyes wide open, a visualised and relative image, which can be evoked by a single word, a sound, or a scent.” That is mainly the reason behind why neon lights play such a big part in Nannucci’s work: although pure and bare, they allow for connections to happen with - as well as activate - other systems such as language and the perception of space. As the artist himself admits: ‘‘neon allows me to shape and reshape space into sensations and concepts that come very close to the degree zero of representation, while opening up new perspectives and horizons of perception and interaction with the reality.’’
 

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    Maurizio Nannucci, No more excuses, 2013. Stazione Leopolda, Firenze. Photo by Pietro Savorelli.

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    Maurizio Nannucci, Going from nowhere. Toulouse, 2009. Photo courtesy of MAXXI.

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    Maurizio Nannucci, You can imagine the opposite, 1991. Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus, Monaco di Baviera. Photo by Simone Gänsheimer.

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    Maurizio Nannucci, All art has been contemporary, 2002. Casino Luxemburg, Münster. Photo by Roman Mensing.

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    Maurizio Nannucci, What to see what not to see. Biennale di Valencia 2003. Photo by Martino Buzzi.

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    Maurizio Nannucci, Everything might be different, 2014. Museo del 900, Firenze. Photo by Cesare Dagliana.

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    Maurizio Nannucci, Something happened, 2009. Villa Medicea La Magia Quarrata. Photo by Carlo Cantini.

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    'Maurizio Nannucci.Where to Start From' installation view. MAXXI Museum, 2015. Photo: Musacchio & Ianniello.

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Maurizio Nannucci, More Than Meets the Eye, 2015. MAXXI Museum. Photo: Musacchio & Ianniello.

‘Maurizio Nannucci: Where to Start From’ at MAXXI - Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo in Rome, Italy, will be on display through October 18th 2015. Exhibition catalogue available from Mousse Edizioni.

'Maurizio Nannucci.Where to Start From' installation view. MAXXI Museum, 2015. Photo: Musacchio & Ianniello.

'Maurizio Nannucci.Where to Start From' installation view. MAXXI Museum, 2015. Photo: Musacchio & Ianniello.

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'Maurizio Nannucci.Where to Start From' installation view. MAXXI Museum, 2015. Photo: Musacchio & Ianniello.

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Maurizio Nannucci, More Than Meets the Eye, 2015. MAXXI Museum. Photo: Musacchio & Ianniello.