LUCA PIGNATELLI

Art Meets History

Photos: Ruben Voisard, Michael Detter, Giuseppe Anello

Luca Pignatelli was born in 1962 in Milan, where he currently lives and works in a home-studio, self-designed based on a former industrial building. His work focuses on a constant process of gathering, recovery and elaboration of history and art. He combines and reworks a wide iconographic archive of universal images, both abstract and figurative, from antique and contemporary scenes, defined by art criticism as "Theatre of memory".

Since the beginning of his artistic career in 1987, Pignatelli has painted his now famous Roman and Greek statues, classical heads of Aphrodite and Diana, mythological figures of gods, heroes and emperors, alongside skylines of New York skyscrapers, Renaissance squares, Alpine landscapes, and icons of modernity such as Second World War aeroplanes, ocean liners, and steam trains. Luca Pignatelli's artistic journey is underpinned by his fascination and exploration of archaeology and mythology. We spoke with Luca Pignatelli about life, art, and history.

RIZE: Dear Luca, what does the city of Milan mean to you?

Luca Pignatelli: I am very attached to Milan. It is my city, the city where I decided to have my studio and live as an artist. My studies in Architecture at the Polytechnic of Milan allowed me to discover a series of artworks in the city that actually formed me, along with the mysterious presence of idealised fellow travellers such as Caravaggio, who was born in Milan, the works of Raffaello Sanzio in the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana in Milan, the Museum of the Cenacolo Vinciano, and so on. This shared spirit between artists, art, and architecture has also influenced my vision. And again, Milan had a great focus on architects and designers even in the period between the two world wars through “Scuola Milanese”. Although I visited other big international cities like New York or Rome, Milan still is a major city for me: the one that I grew up in and that over the years has become increasingly central and symbolic in my view thanks to its geographical location. Milan is indeed located in the north of Italy but in the south of Europe.

What values did your parents give you?

My mother is a psychoanalyst and my father an artist, I'll let you guess... Between the aptitude for creation and thought analysis, I'd say they passed on to me a really good balance between fantasy and rationality.

When did you first get exposed to art?

I was exposed to art ever since I was a child. I used to see my father painting in the house on Via San Martino, inspired by classical music, and I also used to visit Villa Panza di Biumo on weekends, where I was able to see and relate for the first time with American informal and conceptual art.

When and why did you decide to go in that

direction professionally?

During my university years, when I began to represent myself through drawing and painting instead of writing and reading.

Who or what is it that inspires you?

The word inspiration comes from a concept of late Romantic aesthetics that contributed to creating the stereotype of the artist as genius and recklessness. I prefer Picasso when he said that “inspiration exists but it has to find you working”. As far as I am concerned. I look for the vision in the work and in the exchange that great occasions can offer me in order to create a dialogue. For my solo show at Glyptothek München,  I tried to build a dialogue by finding topics between the sculptural masterpieces of its collection and the restoration of its architecture conceived by Leo von Klenze, which is monochromatic compared to the originals.

What initially made you combine history and art?

Art is history. In its immediate unfolding, it immediately becomes history. There is a “before” and an “after” that only an invisible temporal fragment separates. All art is contemporary.

You are famous for Roman and Greek statues, ancient heroes, emperors, gods and goddesses. What meaning do they have for you in these modern times?

Assuming that my world is even broader than just classicism, which for me coincides with the act of repetition, I can say that, out of millions of forms belonging to the classical era, I have chosen only five. What interests me is choosing a limited number of forms and images and repeating them until each reproduction becomes unique from one another. I see in this gesture the history of the human face that has the same characteristics and yet infinite varieties. It is not classicism itself that fascinates me, but rather the general bearing that certain forms and expressions resulting from the experience of that time embody and transfer to contemporaneity.

Imagine you could time travel, what past ancient era would you like to go and visit?

I would like to visit prehistory, to experience a life fully in nature and understand what is the importance of our living facing the future but at the same time rooted in time.

Is there one specific piece of art that you are most proud of?

Just to be in my studio while working on my research. My research is something that I try to make persistent in the desire to transform the impression of what I choose and try to make unique, even through abstract signs and forms. It is a mental system that I have always employed and that is composed of three different stages: research, discovery, and interventions. They allow me to recontextualise forms and contents coming from distant and earlier times by zeroing chronological time in the attempt to realise a continuous present.

From the present to the future: What are your

next plans?

A central focus of my current work is the development of a new architectural studio in Milan. More than just a workspace, it represents an extension of my artistic research—a place where architecture and art converge in dialogue. Another important milestone has been my exhibition Muse - Luca Pignatelli, held at the Glyptothek München from May to October 2024. The project offered a unique opportunity to reflect on the relationship between contemporary art and classical sculpture—an exchange that continues to shape my creative path.

Learn more about Luca Pignatelli’s work here