NOIRE

Grizzana Morandi, better known as Luigi Ontani, was born in Italy in 1943. He is an Italian multifaceted artist who expresses himself through various artistic forms. After studying at the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna Ontani began his artistic career in the 1970s when he became known for his tableau vivants: photographed and videotaped performances in which he presented himself in different ways: from Pinocchio to Dante, Saint Sebastian to Baccus. These displays of “actionism” (different from Viennese Actionism, to which Hermann Nitsch is associated) verge on kitsch and raise personal narcissism to a higher level. Throughout his long career Ontani has expressed his creativity and poetics through the use of many different techniques. He has exhibited his works in some of the most important museums and galleries of the world.