Marcello Jori

Marcello Jori starts his work in Bologna in the early 1970s, making use of photography, painting and writing. From the beginning of his activity, he pursues a total art project. Beginning in the 1980s, after a period dedicated to painted writings that will make words a recurring sign throughout his career, he begins the production of Crystals, precious gems, containers of energy and light, geometries that will lead him to repaint the world following the rules of his style.

Significant works will be born that reach important results today, with the series of Reservoirs, Forests and Cities. In the same years he is among the founders of the "New Italian Comics." He publishes in Italy for "Linus," "Alter" and "Frigidaire," in France for Albin Michel in "L'Echo dea Savanes." He also collaborates with magazines "Vogue" and "Vanity Fair." From 1992 to 1998 he draws exclusively for the Japanese publishing house Kodansha.

He participates in three Venice Biennials, the Paris Biennale, and two Rome Quadrennials. Holds exhibitions in national i international galleries and museums, including: Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Rome; Castel Sant'Elmo, Studio Morra and Studio Trisorio, Naples; Studio Marconi, Milan; Galleria d'Arte Moderna and Galleria De'Foscherari, Bologna; Galleria Civica d'Arte Contemporanea, Trento; Hayward Gallery, London; Kunstverein, Frankfurt; Holly Solomon Gallery, New York City.

In 1996, on the occasion of his solo exhibition at the Palazzo Comunale di Siena, he published, with texts by Stefano Benni and Alessandro Mendini, the volume "La città meravigliosa degli artisti straordinari," an ambitious project in which he began the conceptual and pictorial construction of a city designed to host and celebrate special inhabitants: contemporary artists destined, according to Jori, to immortality.

In the 1990s he participated in the exhibition "Psycho," curated by Christian Leigh, Adrian Dannatt and Donald Kuspit, and a major four-person show with Dan Flavin, Sol LeWitt and James Croak, at Kunst Hall in New York. He held a solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Boston.

In the 2000s he published "Nonna Picassa," a novel for Mondadori, and made useful explorations in the musical sphere. The experience led him to create an impressive set design for Vasco Rossi, a painted city of 20 by 70 meters, for "Rock under siege," a concert held at the San Siro stadium in Milan.
The same year he held a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in Bologna curated by Danilo Eccher, in which the photographic work of the 1970s was re-presented.

In Milan in 2003, at the Emi Fontana Gallery, he presents for the first time the Predicazioni, work-books written and illustrated by hand in a single copy, in which he recounts the lives of legendary artists in a new way.

In 2007 he began collaborating with major design companies such as Alessi and Moroso.

In 2010 he held a solo exhibition at Galleria De'Foscherari, curated by Elena Re, and exhibited at Galleria Giorgio Persano in Turin.
He resumed his collaboration with the Marconi Foundation in Milan, where in January 2011 he held a solo exhibition entitled "Gli Albi dell'Avventura," an important turning point in the path of his current research.

In October 2011 he creates a series of works for Diego Della Valle, presented in Paris at the Italian Embassy, in which he interprets some of the world's most famous monuments. He begins his collaboration with Corriere della Sera, for which he makes six covers and writes about art as an artist.
He exhibits his Giacimenti in a solo exhibition at the Ocean House in Miami.

In 2013 he holds a new exhibition "La Gara della Bellezza" at the Museion in Bolzano and at the same time the exhibition "La Città Meravigliosa degli Artisti Straordinari" at Castel Tirolo curated by Danilo Eccher, and for the occasion he publishes the fourth volume of the series "Gli Albi dell'Avventura" published by Skira.
He participates in Artissima with a solo exhibition in the "Back to the Future" section.
In the same year ADN Collection in Bolzano dedicates a room to him curated by Elena Re.

In 2014 for the bimonthly contemporary art magazine Flash Art he starts the first serial art history, written, drawn and directed by an artist.

In 2015 he held a major solo exhibition at the Marconi Foundation titled "Le Grand Jour à l'Ile de la Grande Jatte" with a catalog edited by Bruno Cora and the fifth volume of the series "Gli Albi dell'Avventura" created by the artist and published by Skira.
He participated in the exhibition "Landscapes" at MART in Rovereto and the exhibition "How the City is Alive" at Villa Olmo in Como.