Flavio Favelli
Flavio Favelli was born in Florence in 1967, in 1993 he graduated at the University of Bologna with a degree in Oriental Studies, only afterwards beginning his career as an artist. He currently lives and works in Bologna (IT).
His works have been exhibited in prestigious international institutions, including: Museo di Capodimonte, Naples (2022); GAM, Turin (2022); Fondazione Adolfo Pini, Milan (2021); Il bello inverso, Ca’ Rezzonico, Venice (2019); Albergo Diurno Venezia, Milan (2017); UNIVERS, A METAPHYSIC STORE, Venice (2017); Art Basel Hong Kong – the Encounters section curated by Yuko Hasegawa (2013); MAXXI, Rome (2015, 2012, 2010); Museo del Novecento, Milan (2012), MACRO, Rome (2012; 2011); RISO – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Palermo (2011), American Academy in Rome (2011, 2010); Tate Modern, London (2010), MCA, Chicago (2009), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2008; 2007, 2002); Palazzo Grassi, Venice (2008), Elgiz Museum of Contemporary Art, Istanbul (2008), Benaki Museum, Athens (2008), La Maison Rouge (2007), MAMBO, Bologna (2007), Musée d’Art Contemporain de Nîmes, (2007); Creative Art Center, Beijing (2006); Musèe d’Art Moderne de Saint- Etienne, Saint- Etienne (2005), Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Los Angeles (2004), Museion – Museo d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bolzano (2003).
In 2012 the artist represented Italy at the 11th Biennale de La Habana and he has twice taken part – in 2003 and in 2013 – in the Venice Biennale. Flavio Favelli was chosen for the residence at the Italian Cultural Institute of Istanbul and in 2014 he had a solo show in the historic complex of the Galata Rum Okulu school.
Flavio Favelli creates works using old objects of décor or everyday use, such as lighting fixtures, picture frames, Fanta or Coca Cola bottles, trinkets that evoke the bourgeois aesthetic of the family environments he grew up in, or the Eastern cultures he studied at university. His works are collages, sculptures or installations in which these recycled materials are brought together, giving life to layers of meaning that isolate the object from its mere material reality, elevating it to an artistic dimension. This transition does not occur through the distortion of the object itself but rather through an amplification of its functional features, of its value as an object of use, as an object of décor, as an icon of the everyday life of the past, unwittingly existing in the present. The marked autobiographical component in these works (which also lies behind the artist’s rare performances), functions as a common filter for interpreting the various lines of inquiry that Flavio Favelli develops in all of his works, and, through a reflection on memory and the development of a “poetics of the object” centered around the exotic-everyday dichotomy, he threads together his own personal story with broader social history and political ideas.
Flavio Favelli’s works a marked sense of Italianness. In his art he develops and reworks the contradictions that came about with the rise of conceptual art (and pop-art) internationally, placing these theoretical frameworks inside the forms and achievements of the Italian conceptual tradition. The result are works with a hybrid soul, which make it difficult to know where to place him on the Italian art scene, and at the same time emphasizing the strong personal element that underlies the language used in each individual work.
Flavio Favelli was born in Florence in 1967, in 1993 he graduated at the University of Bologna with a degree in Oriental Studies, only afterwards beginning his career as an artist. He currently lives and works in Bologna (IT).
His works have been exhibited in prestigious international institutions, including: Museo di Capodimonte, Naples (2022); GAM, Turin (2022); Fondazione Adolfo Pini, Milan (2021); Il bello inverso, Ca’ Rezzonico, Venice (2019); Albergo Diurno Venezia, Milan (2017); UNIVERS, A METAPHYSIC STORE, Venice (2017); Art Basel Hong Kong – the Encounters section curated by Yuko Hasegawa (2013); MAXXI, Rome (2015, 2012, 2010); Museo del Novecento, Milan (2012), MACRO, Rome (2012; 2011); RISO – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Palermo (2011), American Academy in Rome (2011, 2010); Tate Modern, London (2010), MCA, Chicago (2009), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin (2008; 2007, 2002); Palazzo Grassi, Venice (2008), Elgiz Museum of Contemporary Art, Istanbul (2008), Benaki Museum, Athens (2008), La Maison Rouge (2007), MAMBO, Bologna (2007), Musée d’Art Contemporain de Nîmes, (2007); Creative Art Center, Beijing (2006); Musèe d’Art Moderne de Saint- Etienne, Saint- Etienne (2005), Istituto Italiano di Cultura, Los Angeles (2004), Museion – Museo d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bolzano (2003).
In 2012 the artist represented Italy at the 11th Biennale de La Habana and he has twice taken part – in 2003 and in 2013 – in the Venice Biennale. Flavio Favelli was chosen for the residence at the Italian Cultural Institute of Istanbul and in 2014 he had a solo show in the historic complex of the Galata Rum Okulu school.
Flavio Favelli creates works using old objects of décor or everyday use, such as lighting fixtures, picture frames, Fanta or Coca Cola bottles, trinkets that evoke the bourgeois aesthetic of the family environments he grew up in, or the Eastern cultures he studied at university. His works are collages, sculptures or installations in which these recycled materials are brought together, giving life to layers of meaning that isolate the object from its mere material reality, elevating it to an artistic dimension. This transition does not occur through the distortion of the object itself but rather through an amplification of its functional features, of its value as an object of use, as an object of décor, as an icon of the everyday life of the past, unwittingly existing in the present. The marked autobiographical component in these works (which also lies behind the artist’s rare performances), functions as a common filter for interpreting the various lines of inquiry that Flavio Favelli develops in all of his works, and, through a reflection on memory and the development of a “poetics of the object” centered around the exotic-everyday dichotomy, he threads together his own personal story with broader social history and political ideas.
Flavio Favelli’s works a marked sense of Italianness. In his art he develops and reworks the contradictions that came about with the rise of conceptual art (and pop-art) internationally, placing these theoretical frameworks inside the forms and achievements of the Italian conceptual tradition. The result are works with a hybrid soul, which make it difficult to know where to place him on the Italian art scene, and at the same time emphasizing the strong personal element that underlies the language used in each individual work.
- Flavio Favelli, Estate Nera 72, 2023Scratched mirrors on board
93×93×5 cm - Oltremare, 2023stamps on wooden board
98,5×98,5×5,5 cm - Flavio Favelli, Red San Giorgio, 2013collage of praline wrappers on board with frame
44×38 cm
each - Progetto per Fontana, 2023assemblage plastic boxes and cans
258×123,5×123,5 cm - Estate 68, 2023Scratched mirrors on board
103,5×123,5×5,5 cm - Flavio Favelli, Lagoons, 2022collage of geographic maps on panel
90×150 cm - Estate 69, 2023Scratched mirrors on board
94×120×5 cm - Miele Murano, 2022assemblage of chandeliers, light bulbs and neon
130×120×110 cm - Violet Murano, 2022assemblage of chandeliers, light bulbs and neon
105×120×110 cm - Serie Diplomatica , 2023collage of golden plastic trays on board with frame
100×86 cm - Visitate Monterchi, 2022collage of can on road sign
60,5×90,5 cm - Riflessi d’argento , 2023collage of praline wrappers on board with frame
83,5×70 cm - Visitate l’Italia, 2023Transfer gel print on canvas
39×69,5 cm - Serie Imperiale, 2023Transfer gel print on canvas
60×50 cm - Blue Willow, 2023silver tray and blue porcelain
57×85 cm - Diamante stampa , 2023Transfer print on tins
35×35 cm - I Maestri Serie Oro, 127, De Nittis, 2022collage of praline wrappers on a booklet with frame
48×38 cm - I Maestri Serie Oro, 118, Benozzo Gozzoli, 2022collage of praline wrappers on a booklet with frame
48×38 cm - I Maestri Serie Oro, 8, Botticellicollage of praline wrappers on a booklet with frame
48×38 cm - Extra Gold, 2022assemblage of scratched mirrors
209×106 cm - Grande Planisfero, 2022geographic map collage on panel
100×170 cm - Fiori Persiani, 2018assemblage of carpets
340×243 cm - Violet Caesar, 2020stamps on board
50×50 cm - Grigio Italia, 2020stamps on board
50×50 cm - Bolognese, 2022neon
86×50 cm each
5 meters overall - Universe, 2022collage of praline wrappers on board with frame
88×144 cm - Univers, 2017neon
266×60×10 cm - Maniere d’Ebano, 2021wood piano assemblage
83×131×95 cm - Estate 78, 2021scratched mirror on board
74×74 cm - Benin 80, 2019scratched mirror on board
70×100 cm - Estate 1972, 2020assemblage of mercury mirrors on frame
136×96 cm - Tempo Aureo, 2020enamel on cardboards on wooden panel
150×150×7 cm - Tempo Aureo, 2020enamel on cardboards on wooden panel
110×110×7 cm - Traliccio Tunisi, 2019assemblage of iron grill
255×66×68 cm - Paesaggio Borghese 73, 2019assemblage of scratched mirrors
77×62 cm - Kabul Cielo, 2019assemblage of mercury mirrors
70×100 cm - Moro Shahada, 2019scratched mirror on board
59×59 cm - Gold Shahada, 2019scratched mirror on board
53×64 cm - Verde Shahada, 2019scratched mirror on board
43×43 cm each - Stendardo Nero, 2019stamps on board
90×90 cm - Stendardo Piombo, 2019stamps on board
90×90 cm - Afgacolor, 2019assemblage of signs
55×165×10 cm - Fluo Shahada, 2019enamel on board
65×65 cm - Silver Khan, 2019enamel on board
49×49 cm - Buddha, 2019enamel on board
150×150 cm - Hotel Kabul, 2019enamel on board
150×150 cm - Fiori Afghan K4, 2019assemblage of afghan carpets
160×160 cm - Golg Ghana, 2019assemblage of scratched mirrors
264×41×41 cm - Ghiacciato Venezia, 2019enamel on canvas
430×180 cm - Traliccio Tunisi, 2019assemblage of iron grill
407×70×70 cm - Eternity, 2019neon and chest
170×179×10 cm - Military Decò, 2019assemblage of painted furnishings
261×72×63 cm - Silver Plated, 2019assemblage of trays
303×45×43 cm - Premium Quality, 2019collage on light box, on an assemblage of painted furnishing
73×99×29 cm - Ferragosto Decò, 2019assemblage of furnishings and enamel
191×54×34 cm - Gold Garofano, 2019assemblage of aluminium boxes
57×90 cm - Costa d’oro, 2019assemblage of scratched mirrors
71×153 cm - Kenya 82, 2018scratched mirror on board
70×100 cm - Gold stock, 2018scratched mirrors
37×47×6 cm - White Crystal, 2018collage of cut and ground cans
100×100 cm - Supervietato blu, 2013collage of posters of the 70s-80s
48×28 cm - Sexy giallo, 2013collage of posters of the 70s-80s
46×28,5 cm - Sex airlines, 2013collage of posters of the 70s-80s
133×91 cm - Rimmel, 2013collage of posters of the 70s-80s
130×92 cm - Caldo, 2012collage of posters of the 70s-80s
130×90 cm - Sex (Coca Cola), 2011collage of posters of the 70s-80s
138×99 cm - Sensation rosso, 2012collage on board
130×90 cm - Ghana 82, 2018scratched mirrors on board
70×100 cm - Zambesi 72, 2017scratched mirrors on board
50×70 cm - Ghana 72, 2017scratched mirrors on board
70×100 cm - SP Silver 70 , 2017scratched mirrors
50×40 cm
Edition unique - SP Gold 72, 2017scratched mirrors
45×35 cm - Mille Luci (Fiat), 2017assemblage of signs
50×50×10 cm - Mille Luci (Diesel), 2017assemblage of signs
50×50×10 cm - Mille Luci (Totip), 2017assemblage of signs
33×47×10 cm
Edition unique - Mille Luci (Swiss Made), 2017assemblage of signs
50×50×10 cm - Extra Gold, 2017scratched mirrors and frame
81×67 cm - Extra Gold, 2017scratched mirrors and frame
60×46 cm - Rosa Morandi, 2015collage of posters
61×61 cm - Verde Morandi, 2015collage of posters
61×61 cm - Black Ivory , 2016collage of praline wrappers
63×50 cm - Perugina, 2015scratched mirrors, frame
43×38 cm - Top 3 Stars, 2010neon e ringhiere
202×258×58 cm - Orange Blossom, 2014structure of illumination, glass sphere
49×53×58 cm - Orange Luminaria, 2012Structure of illumination, bottles
60×60×43 cm - White Ball , 2012Structure of illumination, glasses, neon
80×70×72 cm
Edition unique - Violet Italia, 2015collage of stamps, frame
67×52 cm - Specchio, 2013scratched mirror
80×177×5 cm - Royal Blue, 2014collage of cut and ground cans
90×130 cm - Algida, 2014collage
75×75 cm - Grande oriente martini , 2012crystal chandelier, Martini bottle
119×93 cm
Edition unique