ROLANDO PELLINI ©

ROLANDO PELLINI

Rolando Pellini was born in Ferrara in 1952. After completing his studies as a surveyor, he attended the University of Psychology. In the 1980s, he embarked on a successful career as a manager, working for one of the best-known fashion brands of the time, an activity that took him to various countries around the world. It was during his stay in Paris that, by pure chance, he began to paint. It is the turning point of his existence. From the very beginning, his paintings stand out for their style, which is pleasant and direct, and therefore easy for the viewer to understand. Sales success is immediate and Art becomes his work. He took part in numerous exhibitions, both personal and collective, where he always received excellent feedback from collectors, including many fashion and industrialists who continue to buy his works to this day. Pellini's work is so eclectic that it is difficult to pigeonhole him into a single artistic current. He has his own style that distinguishes him thanks to an apparently artisanal - but in reality very elaborate - technique that sees him, among the first in the world, using innovative materials such as resins, carbon fibre and LED lighting, which are skilfully combined with classic colours and painting mediums, but also with photographic carryover and collage. This 'MIX' of techniques is the driving force behind his astonishing creations, which range between Pop style and Light Art, Abstractionism and Informalism, Conceptual Art and Minimalism, all elaborated with a very personal style, declined in cycles. Thus, we are surprised by the works dedicated to iconic film and comic strip characters (Legend: Marilyn, Sinatra, Batman, Superman, Joker), subjects that have been interpreted in millions of ways in the history of art by thousands of artists from Warhol onwards, with which Pellini, with his style, finally manages to say something new... This alone would be enough to help us understand the artist's stature. But this is only a minimal aspect of his poetics. Astonishing are the 'Manzoni 4.0', conceptual works made with paint, resins and LED systems... Some might argue that traditional painting is different, so what does Pellini do? He churns out "Pellock" (which only apparently, by assonance, recall Pollock), paintings that show us his talent as a painter and explain the difference between copying the great artists of the past and being inspired by them to the point of being able to create something surprising, because Rolando, instead of using dripping from the can as the mythical American artist father of Action Painting did, creates his large canvases with 8/9 layers of dripping from the brush, rhythmic and harmonic... Still having doubts? The 'Homages' to the great masters of the past (Boldini), convince us that the magic of a simple led wire can go hand in hand with the more classical and traditional art, making it observed from a new, almost futuristic point of view. Less well known, but just as interesting, are the works that can be defined as Neo-Figurative, mixed techniques realised in an apparently rudimentary manner, but in reality very elaborate and direct in the message they want to convey to the viewer. A complete, courageous artist, independent in his freedom of expression. Already well known in the art market, in 2024 Rolando Pellini began a collaboration with the Piero Della Francesca Art Gallery in Arezzo, which exclusively handles his large-format works (up to 2 m and more). (Text by Giorgio Vaiani Lisi ©)