Paper plays a crucial role in everything that Filippo Manzini produces: whether it is a base on which to draw marks or a surface to be shaped like a sculptural material, in both instances what is always there is spatial, visual and tactile research. His two ways of working follow on from one another on different levels of abstraction: graphic marks drawn in the tranquility of his studio or amid the hubbub of a train journey are then transferred by photocopy onto a new base; traces of spatial coordinates point to the construction of an invisible, intimate and sensitive world; while his work in which paper has no writing on it, where it is simply folded and then smoothed out, project us into a world of scale models of tangible architecture. The manual work of folding the paper imparts a new spatiality to the sheet and light breaks up against it, imbuing the soft depressions with depth and shadow.
The few lines on each sheet of paper, betraying a featherlike yet indelible act, join and intersect, thus suggesting the sharp edges between a wall and a corner or between the wall and the ceiling, creating an ongoing alternation between the interior and the exterior.
The search for depth has been a constant feature of Manzini's work from the outset, when he created minimal and timeless landscapes enclosed in the potential of monochrome through a slow process involving the removal of material, smoothing and incising the layers of paper.

He was born in 1975 in Florence, where he lives and works.
The numerous collective exhibitions in which he has taken part include: TUNNEL - The Wall (archives), curated by Pietro Gaglianò, Ex Officine Automobilistiche, Roma, 2011; Private Flat # 6 Brucia Babilonia-The wall (archives), curated by Pietro Gaglianò, Firenze, 2010; Ut>home, curated by Nicola Davide Angerame, Galleria Whitelabs, Milano, 2010; 25 hours a day, curated by Angelika Stepken, Villa Romana, Firenze, 2010;
Setting foor production, curared by Paolo Emilio Antognoli Viti, Galleria P38, Lucca, 2009; Nonplusultra, curated by Gaia Pasi, Galleria Daniele Ugolini Contemporary, Firenze 2007; Pittura /Materiale, curated by Pier Luigi Tazzi, Galleria Frittelli Arte Contemporanea, Firenze 2007; In Progres, curated by Dsdemona Ventroni, Patrizia Pepe, Prato, 2006;
Omaggio a Mario Mariotti, curated by Laura Vecere, Limonaia di Villa Strozzi, Firenze, 2002; Base/progetti per l’arte contemporanea, curated by Sergio Risaliti, BASE, Firenze, 2002.

 

filippo-manzini.blogspot.com/

Address: Via dei Cannelai (angolo con Via degli Artigiani) 16, Vaiano, Prato

Address: Via dei Cannelai (angolo con Via degli Artigiani) 16, Vaiano, Prato
How to get there: by bus from Prato Centrale railway station, LAM red line (for Galceti - S.Lucia) - alight at Bologna 3 stop

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