“Abstract Art of the Origins”. With this collection, Andrea Benetti aims to highlight how abstract painting, at least in its embryonic form, has its roots in the very origins of our history, dating back to the cave paintings of prehistory. In these primitive works, in fact, the use of symbols and chromatic forms was already evident, anticipating the fundamental principles of abstract art, whilst retaining a mysterious and primitive character. Benetti, therefore, establishes a direct link between prehistoric artistic expression and modern abstract forms, revealing how humanity’s aesthetic quest, from its earliest manifestations, was already intrinsically linked to the experimentation with signs and colours.

BIO

Andrea Benetti, born in Bologna in 1964, is a multifaceted visual artist whose work encompasses a wide range of expressive languages, including painting, photography, drawing, installations, and video art. His artistic production is distinguished by an original reinterpretation of the profound connection between contemporary art and its ancestral origins, rooted in Prehistory. In 2006, he conceived the Manifesto of Neo-Cave Art, which was officially presented in 2009 at the 53rd Venice Biennale, at Ca’ Foscari University. In this manifesto, Benetti proposes a theoretical and visual reflection that calls for an artistic “rebirth,” ideally starting anew from one of the earliest forms of art—cave painting – reimagined through a contemporary lens with an innovative and original symbolic language.

His works, marked by the evocative use of natural pigments, spices, oxides, and stylized anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures alongside abstract geometries, form a conceptual bridge between the origins of art and its present-day expressions. In this process, Benetti recovers and carries forward the symbolic language often present in prehistoric art, reinterpreting and reinventing it to bring it into the contemporary world – a world that not only thrives on new forms of symbolism but also transforms them into digital icons, now omnipresent in everyday life, as they are embedded in the very objects and devices governed by digital logic.

This approach has enabled Benetti to develop a distinctive visual poetics, capable of engaging with the collective memory of humanity while simultaneously responding to the aesthetic and conceptual demands of third-millennium art.

Andrea Benetti has exhibited in prestigious international venues, and his works have become part of major institutional and museum collections, including those of the United Nations (New York), the Vatican, the Quirinal Palace, and the Italian Chamber of Deputies. His work has been the subject of academic research and scholarly studies conducted by several Italian universities, such as those of Bologna, Ferrara, Bergamo, and Salento (Lecce), and he has collaborated with other distinguished academic institutions, including the universities of Bari, Roma Tre, Messina, Venice, and the renowned Johns Hopkins University.

The recognition of his artistic stature is further confirmed by the inclusion of his biography in authoritative encyclopedias such as Treccani, De Agostini, and WikiArt, as well as its presence on Wikipedia in forty-five languages—a testament to his firmly established international resonance. In 2020, he was awarded the “Nettuno d’Oro” Prize by the City of Bologna, in tribute to the significance and originality of his contribution to contemporary culture and to his prominent role in today’s artistic landscape.

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Il mio Universo, 2009, oil, henna and acrylic on bas-relief in plaster on canvas, cm 50 x 80

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Gravità, 2019, oil and oxides on bas-relief in plaster on canvas, cm 80 x 120

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L’angelo, 2022, oil, cacao and oxides on bas-relief in plaster on canvas, cm 60 x 100

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Mareggiata, 2020, cm 80 x 120, oil and oxides on bas-relief in plaster on canvas

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Le sirene, 2020, oil and oxides on bas-relief in plaster on canvas, cm 80 x 100

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Bachelor party, 2020, oil and oxides on bas-relief in plaster on canvas, cm 60 x 80

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Laguna di Venezia, 2021, oil, coffee and oxides on bas-relief in plaster on canvas, cm 60 x 100

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La porta dei desideri, 2020, oil and oxides on bas-relief in plaster on canvas, cm 60 x 80

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Luna e naviganti, 2020, oil and oxides on bas-relief in plaster on canvas, cm 50 x 70

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Lune in cielo, 2015, oil, turmeric and acrylic on bas-relief in plaster on canvas, cm 60 x 80

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All images © Andrea Benetti

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