Massimo Giannoni

Massimo Giannoni’s spectacular figurative paintings employ technical and conceptual contrasts to speak about time, history, and space. He is best known for thickly impastoed oil paintings that appear blurry and abstracted up close. In the mid-1990s, he struck upon two seemingly contrasting subjects that would sustain his work for years to come: libraries and stock exchanges. These are sites where knowledge is held and data accumulates. But while his library scenes are orderly and still, Giannoni’s depictions of stock exchanges are frenzied and chaotic. New York Stock Exchange (2002), sold for $37,500 at auction in 2014, is cluttered with men in suits at computer screens. The busy composition captures the fast-paced exchange of information. Born in Tuscany, Giannoni aligns his work with the lineage of Italian Renaissance artists interested in depicting space in innovative ways. He studied at the Florence Academy of Fine Arts, where he was awarded the Prix Lubiam in 1979. His work has been exhibited across Italy at the Museo Carlo Bilotti, Uffizi Library, and Milan’s Palazzo Reale.