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Nanni Valentini — Untitled
Nanni Valentini

Untitled

This untitled mixed media work by Nanni Valentini presents a charged interplay of gesture, material, and form that is characteristic of the artist's mature practice. Executed in earthy sienna and burnt umber tones punctuated by deep blacks and a cool grey-blue along the right edge, the composition builds tension between raw painterly mark-making and the harder, angular geometries suggested by charcoal linework. A collaged fragment of paper, torn and layered into the center of the composition, introduces a three-dimensional relief quality that disrupts the picture plane and draws the eye inward. The brushwork is confident and physical, sweeping across the surface in broad arcs that speak to the artist's engagement with the body as an instrument of creation. Valentini, who trained as a ceramicist before expanding into painting and sculpture, consistently interrogated the boundaries between materials and their expressive potential. That sensibility is fully present here. The application of mixed media on paper subsequently mounted to canvas reflects his interest in layering substrates to achieve both structural stability and a visible archaeology of process. The collage element, partially integrated and partially rebellious against its ground, functions less as decoration than as evidence of a working method in which chance and intention are held in productive balance. The gestural black lines that weave across the upper register recall automatic drawing traditions, yet they remain anchored to a fundamentally sculptural understanding of mass and void. At 49.5 by 34 centimeters, the work is intimate in scale but expansive in its visual ambition. It rewards close attention, revealing the successive decisions embedded in its surface, from the initial warm ground to the final assertive strokes that animate the composition. Works of this nature from Valentini's practice occupy an important position within the broader context of Italian postwar and Neo-Expressionist tendencies, connecting his output to contemporaries such as Burri and Kounellis while maintaining a distinctly personal vocabulary. For collectors interested in the Italian avant-garde of the second half of the twentieth century, this piece represents a compelling and accessible entry point into an oeuvre that continues to gain critical recognition in international markets.

Medium
Mixed media and collage on paper applied on canvas

🔨 Auction Lot

Martini Studio d'Arte: Modern And Contemporary Art

June 10, 2026

Estimate: €500 to €1,000

Lot 135

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About this work

Nanni Valentini, Untitled

This untitled mixed media work by Nanni Valentini presents a charged interplay of gesture, material, and form that is characteristic of the artist's mature practice. Executed in earthy sienna and burnt umber tones punctuated by deep blacks and a cool grey-blue along the right edge, the composition builds tension between raw painterly mark-making and the harder, angular geometries suggested by charcoal linework. A collaged fragment of paper, torn and layered into the center of the composition, introduces a three-dimensional relief quality that disrupts the picture plane and draws the eye inward. The brushwork is confident and physical, sweeping across the surface in broad arcs that speak to the artist's engagement with the body as an instrument of creation. Valentini, who trained as a ceramicist before expanding into painting and sculpture, consistently interrogated the boundaries between materials and their expressive potential. That sensibility is fully present here. The application of mixed media on paper subsequently mounted to canvas reflects his interest in layering substrates to achieve both structural stability and a visible archaeology of process. The collage element, partially integrated and partially rebellious against its ground, functions less as decoration than as evidence of a working method in which chance and intention are held in productive balance. The gestural black lines that weave across the upper register recall automatic drawing traditions, yet they remain anchored to a fundamentally sculptural understanding of mass and void. At 49.5 by 34 centimeters, the work is intimate in scale but expansive in its visual ambition. It rewards close attention, revealing the successive decisions embedded in its surface, from the initial warm ground to the final assertive strokes that animate the composition. Works of this nature from Valentini's practice occupy an important position within the broader context of Italian postwar and Neo-Expressionist tendencies, connecting his output to contemporaries such as Burri and Kounellis while maintaining a distinctly personal vocabulary. For collectors interested in the Italian avant-garde of the second half of the twentieth century, this piece represents a compelling and accessible entry point into an oeuvre that continues to gain critical recognition in international markets.

Medium
Mixed media and collage on paper applied on canvas
Seen at
Martini Studio d'Arte

Related themes

Material Art, Textural Work, Layered Media, Male Artist, Modernist, Mixed Media, Automatic Drawing, European Art, Collage, Italian Artist, Gestural Abstraction, Process Art, Relief Surface, Expressionist, Art Informel, Black And Brown, Works On Paper, Earth Tones, Abstract, Mounted Canvas, Abstract Composition

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