Luigi Benzoni

Luigi Benzoni was born in Clusone in the province of Bergamo, Italy in 1956 but has lived in Venice since 1976 where he studied architecture and specialized in the history of art.

Since 1974, he has exhibited his works in public and private institutions in Italy and abroad.

Among the most important exhibitions in which he has taken part are: “The Secret of Murano”, Het Paleis Museum, The Hague, Netherlands (1997), “A Choice of European Glass Artists”, Mostly Glass, New York, USA (1998), “Made in Murano-Making Art with Glass”, Hotel Cipriani, Venice, Italy (1999), “Interationell Samtidskonst I Glas”, Halstadtsgruppens Museum, Halmstad, Sweden (1999), “Made in Venice”, Röhsska Museum for Design and Applied Art, Goteborg, Sweden, “Innuendo”, Palazzo delle Prigioni, Venice, Italy, “XI Biennial of Sacred Art”, Stauros Museum of Sacred Art, Isola del Gran Sasso d’Italia, Abruzzo, Italy (2004).

Benzoni’s work – both pictorial and sculptural – is characterized mainly by his experimentation with the human face.

His “glass faces” – immobile hieratic icons – are related to the drawings and paintings he has created using various techniques. After a short detour into abstraction that helped him learn how to intuit the strength of line and color, his painting production – with stern, elemental faces – became almost monochromatic. The impenetrable look on these faces with just two slits for the eyes invite the observer to look beyond.

Benzoni’s glass heads – made of glass paste with an image in gold-leaf inside – are veritable human simulacra.

All of Benzoni’s works reveal one general characteristic: his profiles and their outlines seem imprinted with simplicity but are actually the result of a decisive power and a resolute determination.

Submitted by Mark Hachem Gallery