MASSIMO BERNARDINI
was born near Rome, where he currently lives and works.
Having attended the Liceo Artistico associated with the Academy of Fine Arts in Via Ripetta, where he had Monachesi,
Consolazione, Afro and Novelli among his teachers, Massimo studied Architecture at the Università della Sapienza, during
the years in which “Valle Giulia” was the center of the ’68 student movement.
He graduated with honors, only 23 year old, and was starting a professional career when his interest for the political and
social issues of those years moved him towards teaching and cultivating the artistic experiences explored in the previous
years.
Working with “GRUPPO 1970”, he realized an “Exposition Analysis” in the S. Claudio al Chienti (Macerata) abbey, which
proposed a different modality of interaction between the artist and its audience, the work of art and the environment. The
plan was realized the following year with a collective sculpture in the public park of Pisoniano (Roma), made of mechanical
parts and logs from trees cut down to widen the town’s main road.
During the seventies the multiple activities as designer, teacher and artist were informed by the social conditions
in the outskirts of Rome, as for example in the Via del Grano mural, in the South-East suburbs, realized with the young
residents who were fighting for the scant space between the buildings.
In the eighties a more focused research around language and the nature of expressive media led him to experiment with
different materials, culminating in the rediscovery of the fresco and graffito techniques. The novel combination of these
two ancient techniques gave birth to the “GRAFFESCHI”, displayed for the first time in ‘86 at the Underwood center near
Piazza di Spagna.
Their development found in the wall-sized the appropriate dimension. Compositions related to the structuring of interior
and exterior spaces, located in large ambients, reconnected the thread that ties the fresco and graffito to their historical
origins.
- In 1994 he realized the large graffesco “IN AERE FULGEAT” for the conference room of the firm Osservatorio, in Via Tomacelli in Rome.
- In 1996 he created the wall-sized composition “METOPE” for the Inprogest headquarters, in via del Frantoio.
Subsequently the “BAGNANTI” cycle was the unifying theme for the restructuring of the Nena house, in Via Balabanoff, creating
for the first time the conditions for a project that integrated architecture, interior design, and decorating, all under the
direction of the artist.
More ambitious projects in the nineties involved headquarters of government instututions, restructuring of public squares
and exterior spaces, and found a concrete realization in the integrated design of the shopping centre “Condottieri”, where
a big outdoor graffito in 2001 and a mosaic in 2002 sealed his work as an architect and as a painter.
This, anyway, didn’t prevent him to promote exhibitions in public areas:
- in 2003 outdoor with the sculptor Alfiero Nena in A. da Giussano street.
- in 2005 with painters Costabile, Palmigiani and Scelfo the exhibition “earth, water, air, fire” on the occasion of
“Equocioccolato” (event on fair markets).
- in 2006 he realized the graffesco in the hall of the new Inprogest society base.
Recently he has participated at the competition for the decoration of Scopoli church, near Foligno, remodeled after the 1997
earthquake. One of the big canvas with scenes from the bible has been assigned to him and it’s ready to be placed on the
church walls.
March 2007