Matt Mignanelli (born 1983) is an American artist best known for his large-scale abstract paintings. Mignanelli lives and works in New York City.

Early life and education

Mignanelli was born in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

in 1983. He graduated from the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

in 2005, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. After graduation Mignanelli moved to Manhattan where his work began receiving critical attention both domestically and abroad. In 2011 he received a grant and was an artist-in-residence at the renowned

Vermont Studio Center The Vermont Studio Center (VSC) is a non-profit arts organization located in the town of Johnson, Vermont. It conducts the largest fine arts and writing residency program in the United States, with a significant population of international artis ...

in Johnson, VT.

Work and critical reception

Mignanelli's paintings explore the relationship between structure and nature, which is relayed through his use of gradating light and structural elements to create enigmatic environments which reference both the urban landscape and vistas from the natural world. He draws inspiration from energy, pattern, light, and the industrial landscape. His process combines incredibly detailed freehand painting of geometric forms, organically accumulated splashes of paint, and diluted washes layered to create gentle gradients over gestural underpaintings. He has said his use of enamel and the color blue makes reference to utilitarian painting applications in municipal and industrial contexts such as mailboxes and dumpsters, with abutting fields of aqueous and luminescent color from nature. Mignanelli's examination of the potential, power, and unwavering focus of the monochrome has been a guiding principle throughout his career. In his 2018 monograph ''Blue Paintings'' published by Denny Dimin Gallery, New York, the curator and museum professional Aaron Levi Garvey lauded Mignanelli's works when writing, "These splendid new works explore the stark contrast between the planned and orderly events of daily life and the journey through the subconscious when allowed to have singular moments to let go of order. The escape which these paintings represent is one that most all of us long for from time to time, a respite from the obligations of being on time or answering calls, texts and emails, the chance to listen to a score or gaze into the sky uninterrupted, so to take it all in. More than just paintings, they are surface studies for points in time that we all deserve." His work has been featured and reviewed in ''Interview'' magazine, ''ARTnews'' '', Vice, Galerie Magazine'', ''San Francisco Arts Quarterly (SFAQ)'', ''Whitewall Magazine'', ''

Robb Report The ''Robb Report'' is an American, English-language, luxury-lifestyle magazine featuring products, including automobiles, aviation, boating, real estate and watches. Founded in 1976, it is currently owned by Penske Media Corporation. It also dist ...

'', ''

La Repubblica ''la Repubblica'' (; the Republic) is an Italian daily general-interest newspaper. It was founded in 1976 in Rome by Gruppo Editoriale L'Espresso (now known as GEDI Gruppo Editoriale) and led by Eugenio Scalfari, Carlo Caracciolo and Arnoldo ...

'', ''

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst, and flagship of the Hearst Corporat ...

'', ''GalleristNY'', ''POST NEW'', ''Complex'', ''NY Arts Magazine'', ''Dazed & Confused'', and ''The Art Dossier''. Mignanelli has lectured at

Parsons School of Design Parsons School of Design, known colloquially as Parsons, is a private art and design college located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. Founded in 1896 after a group of progressive artists broke away from established Manhatt ...

. Mignanelli was featured in the 2013 season of ''VICE Magazine''s acclaimed video series ''Art Talk''. In the 2008

Björk Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct three-octave vocal range and eccentric persona, she has de ...

music video "

Declare Independence "Declare Independence" is a song written and recorded by Icelandic singer Björk. The track was released as the third single from her sixth full-length studio album, '' Volta''. The single was released on 1 January 2008. Björk's dedication of ...

", Mignanelli worked alongside director

Michel Gondry Michel Gondry (; born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. Along with Charlie Kaufman, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one of the writers ...

and can be seen painting in the video.

Exhibitions

Mignanelli's paintings have been exhibited extensively throughout the United States and internationally at the

SCAD Museum of Art The SCAD Museum of Art was founded in 2002 as part of the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia, and originally was known as the Earle W. Newton Center for British American Studies. The museum's permanent collection of more than ...

(

Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the Canopy (forest), canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to rea ...

, Georgia), Goss-Michael Foundation (

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, Texas), Denny Dimin Gallery (New York City), Hollis Taggart (New York City), 5 Bryant Park (New York City), Richard Heller Gallery (Los Angeles), LUCE Gallery (

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

), Anonymous Gallery (

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

), Dubner Moderne (

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

, Switzerland), Kristin Hjellegjerde (

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

), Bleecker Street Arts Club (New York), Artpark Warsaw, Guererro Gallery (San Francisco), Spinello Projects (Miami), Art Copenhagen with Marianne Friis Gallery, and Recoat Gallery (

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

). Mignanelli's selected solo and two person exhibitions include: * ''Between Nature & Structure'' at 5 Bryant Park (New York, 2020–21) * ''Matt Mignanelli & Erin O'Keefe'' at Denny Dimin Gallery (Hong Kong, 2019) * ''Nocturnes'' at Denny Dimin Gallery (New York, 2018) * ''Power Dynamics'' at Dubner Moderne (Lausanne, 2018) * ''Matt Mignanelli - Johnny Abrahams'', Two On Two at The Hole (New York, 2016) * ''Grattan Street'' at LUCE Gallery (Torino, 2015) * ''Matt Mignanelli - Russell Tyler, Between The Lines'' at Anonymous Gallery (Mexico City, 2015) * ''Stories Unfold'' at Richard Heller Gallery (Los Angeles, 2014) * ''Nonstop'' at Dubner Moderne (Lausanne, 2013) * ''Matt Mignanelli - Ryan Wallace'' at Bleecker Street Arts Club (New York, 2013).

Collections

Mignanelli has attracted a notable base of American, European, and Asian private collectors. His work is also held in the distinguished public collections of The Estée Lauder Collection, New York, The Morgan Stanley Collection, New York, The Ernesto Esposito Collection, Naples, and The Red Bull Collection, London.

References

Lieberman, Lynn. “Matt Mignanelli: Between Nature & Structure ~ a Public Art Installation at Five Bryant Park”, GothamToGo, November 2, 2020Cohen, Alina. “The Artists Everyone Was Talking about during Art Basel in Hong Kong”, Artsy, April 1, 2019.

External links