Omar Galliani

Omar Galliani (Montecchio Emilia 1954), "Ultramarine Blue", 2024. Graphite on poplar wood. Dimensions: cm. 150 x 150 The large panel depicts a woman's face with delicate features, surrounded by red flower petals. The work is created with an extremely personal technique, which creates a refined dialogue between the delicacy of the drawing and the natural grain of the wood. BIOGRAPHY Omar Galliani was born in 1954 in Montecchio Emilia, in the province of Reggio Emilia. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna and is a professor of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera. In 1978 Enrico Crispolti invited him to the Michetti Prize with the installation Portrait of a Lady with Unicorn; the following year he participated in the International Drawing Triennale in Nuremberg thanks to the invitation of Luciano Francalanci for the Italian section, where he received the Faber-Castell Prize. In 1982 he joined the Magic Primary movement and in 1984 Anachronism, focused on the return to the Italian figurative tradition for an art that is both past and future. His works are present at the Venice Biennale during all the editions of the 80s, as well as at the Milan Triennales, the Biennales of Sao Paulo in Brazil and Paris. Subsequently his works are hosted in contemporary art museums in Tokyo, Kyoto, Nagasaki and Hiroshima, as well as at the seventh edition of the British International Print Biennale in Bradford curated by Robert Hopper. In 1991 he created the third curtain for the historic Romolo Valli Theater in Reggio Emilia and in 1993 he was invited to the exhibition All Roads Lead to Rome in the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, curated by Achille Bonito Oliva. He then participated in the XXII Quadrenniale of Rome in 1996, curated by Vittorio Sgarbi, where he exhibited his Drawing in the Chamber of Deputies. His works have participated in important exhibitions all over the world and are included in the permanent collections of various museums of contemporary art, such as the GAM of Turin (Landscape of My Poisons, 2014) and the NAMOC of Beijing (Far from Xian, 2016). In 2018, Galliani donated a self-portrait to the Uffizi Galleries in Florence; the work was exhibited at the Vasari Auditorium and presented to the public by the director Eike Schmidt, before becoming part of the famous collection. The monographic exhibition Omar Galliani – Diachronic was inaugurated at Palazzo Reale in Milan in 2023. Suspended time, curated by Flavio Caroli and Vera Agosti.