«For some time I had been thinking of proposing here in the gallery a forgotten author and therefore one to be rediscovered». Speaking and very clearly synthesizing the first reason for this exhibition is Federico Bonioni, manager together with his father Ivano of the homonymous gallery in Reggio Emilia. «I love colors», continues Federico, observing, with evident sentimental passion and intense inspiration, the twenty or so exhibited works signed by Mimmo Germanà, defined by art critic Salvatore Grasso as the “Italian Chagall “, for the continuous expressive assonances of female figures and dreamy landscapes.
Mimmo Germanà,”Transavanguardia poetica”, installation view, courtesy of Galleria Bonioni Arte
Mimmo Germanà (born in 1944 in Catania and died for AIDS in 1992 in Busto Arsizio) adhered in the early ʽ80s to Transavanguardia, combining primitivistic forms with very intense, almost Dionysiac colors, imprinted on scenes with strong roots immersed in myth. The retrospective anthology at Bonioni Arte effectively returns all these aspects in an engaging way and the observer finds themselves facing a synthesis that can be summarized in a triad of recurring elements: the female figure (often nude), the natural landscape, a little dog. Few works escape this classificatory synthesis, expressing themselves in a standalone way and which nonetheless give a substantial sense of chromatic vivacity.
Mimmo Germanà,”Transavanguardia poetica”, installation view, courtesy of Galleria Bonioni Arte
The walls of the gallery salon are snow-white. This is how Ivano and Federico Bonioni have wanted them since 2002, the year in which the rich family collection also became an exhibition project. The numerous artistic contacts that father Ivano could boast as a model maker from the late ʽ70s to the early 2000s, were thus materialized in a place that, beyond the exhibition space, could also boast a significant library of art books, as well as revealing itself as an exhibition venue for the European Photography festival. “Mimmo Germanà. Poetic Transavanguardia” is the title given by curator Fabrizio Guerrini, also author of the rich introduction to the catalog printed in-house by the gallery, as well as curator of the general catalog of Germanà’s works under construction.
Mimmo Germanà,”Transavanguardia poetica”, installation view, courtesy of Galleria Bonioni Arte
We were talking about the many oils on canvas that portray a female figure. «It’s a constant memory of the mother», Federico Bonioni tells us. The predominant tones of the woman are blue and yellow. In “Island” from 1984 (Federico’s favorite painting), the intense female figure rises gigantic almost to divinity embracing an islet. Always blue and enormous in the sky, the woman stands deified against the nocturnal marine horizon in an untitled painting from 1982, even covering the setting sun. In another untitled painting, also from 1982, Germanà dissolves the female figure impregnated with blue in an indistinct floral vortex that seems to cradle the woman assuming the form of a curved cradle.
Mimmo Germanà, “Untitled”, 1986, oil on canvas, cm 60 x 100, courtesy of Bonioni Arte Gallery
In the series of women in yellow, we highlight another oil from 1986, in which the artist’s hyper-expressionism materializes in a new nude that embraces an islet formed by three trees immersed in water currents that form spirals (a graphic sign very present in Germanà’s work). The nude bust of a woman is accompanied by a little dog in “Mirò Goes Wild” from 1991. It could be the painting that summarizes more than others Germanà’s themes, being present nature, the female figure and this little dog. The trees double becoming six and bent by the wind (oblique to the horizontal line) in an untitled from 1984. Also in this case, the woman is elevated to an enormous goddess who from above seems to embrace and include creation.
Mimmo Germanà, “Mirò goes wild”, 1991, oil on canvas, cm 140 x 120, courtesy of Bonioni Arte Gallery
The domestic animal protagonist of so many of Germanà’s works was in daily life the artist’s own dog. Its name was Mirò and this reveals to us that the Mirò who was supposed to go wild in a painting is not the artist, but rather his faithful four-legged friend. Mirò is lying and floating on a meadow (“Mirò”, ʽ80s); Mirò, as already mentioned, is in the company of a woman who recalls the artist’s mother (the already cited “Mirò goes wild”); Mirò splits again floating and lying on a meadow and becomes a two-headed dog (“Mirò” from 1990); Mirò is sovereign always cradled by nature in an untitled from 1986 (perhaps the most interesting among all).
Mimmo Germanà, “Mirò”, 1990, oil on canvas, cm 170 x 160, courtesy of Bonioni Arte Gallery
Before moving on to the thematic component of nature and landscape, it’s worth making a small digression on the works in the exhibition that clearly deviate from Germanà’s style to which we are accustomed. An untitled from 1983 shows us a floating child: we recognize the sensitive signature of the artist, everything is undulating, everything is reflected in nature and, scrolling through Germanà’s whole production, we find that even the Chagallian child is a very recurring subject. And then the representation of still life: recalling the English expression to define it, Germanà’s still lifes are chromatically very vivid, they emanate full and carnal, three-dimensional, lively, intimately Mediterranean colors.
Mimmo Germanà,”Transavanguardia poetica”, installation view, courtesy of Galleria Bonioni Arte
The third recurring macro-theme in the poetic painting (the adjective that titles the exhibition) of Mimmo Germanà is undoubtedly nature that serves as background or protagonist of almost all works. Intensely chromatic, swirling, oblique to the horizon line, the trees, plants, waterways of Germanà’s paintings are fundamental for focusing attention on the subject that is neither natural nor landscape-based. Citing the works having as protagonists the female figure (maternal archetype) and the little dog, we have in fact also included this artistic subject so central in the work of the Catanian artist. There are also works in which the representation of landscape appear without the woman and the animal: it is exemplary an untitled from 1984, in which four customarily oblique trees seem to watch over their companion immersed in an aquatic landscape and apparently prey to very swirling currents. It’s interesting to note what a very attentive observer might wonder: are Germanà’s trees river trees? Maritime? The enigmatic question is due to the graphic elements: the tree is something very close to a poplar (river), but the aquatic vastness suggests a vast basin (sea). It seems to us a closing note that encompasses the hypnotic, floating, somewhat fauve and dreamy art of Mimmo Germanà.
Info:
Mimmo Germanà. Transavanguardia poetica
curated by Fabrizio Guerrini
04/09 – 26/10/2025
Galleria Bonioni Arte
Corso Garibaldi, 43 – Reggio Emilia
www.bonioniarte.it
I am Giovanni Crotti, born in 1968, and I feel obliged to thank writing because it drives my life. I cultivate within me multitudes that lead me to investigate, know, and deepen every cultural and creative expression, and then write about it, always trying to be clear and documented in the contents.
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