Marco Bagnoli undertook a scientific higher eduction with a degree in chemistry, and is now a significant presence on the international art scene, as evidenced by the exhibitions in which he has appeared. He has participated in the Venice Biennale (1982, 1986, 1997), documenta in Kassel (1982, 1992) and Sonsbeek in Arnhem (1986). His solo shows at prestigious art institutions include such as De Appel, Amsterdam (1980 and 1984), Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève (1985), Musée Saint-Pierre Art contemporain, Lyon (1987), Magasin, Centre National d’Art Contemporain, Grenoble (1991), Castello di Rivoli (1992), Centro per l’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato (1995), IVAM, Centre del Carme, Valencia (2000), České Muzeum Výtvarných Umění, Prague (2009), Civico Planetario Ulrico Hoepli, Milan (2011), Madre, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Donnaregina, Naples (2015), Museo del Novecento, Milan (2022); and in major museums, from the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome to the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.
In June 2020, the fountain Cinquantasei nomi, 1999-2000, was reinstalled near the entrance to Rivoli Castle after restoration. Since June 2020 Come figura d’arciere, 1993-2019, is on display at Molo E at Leonardo da Vinci (Rome) Airport in Fiumicino.
On 5 May 2017, the Atelier Marco Bagnoli opened in Montelupo Fiorentino. This is a multifunctional space, which the artist conceives overall as a total work of art (Gesamtkunstwerk), and which in some of its spaces hosts an ever-changing temporary exhibition of his works from 1972 to the present, curated by Pier Luigi Tazzi.
The year 2018 saw the publication of Marco Bagnoli by Skira, Milan, a monograph produced by Celant, who was also responsible for the introductory essay, containing a chronology, signed by Celant himself together with Antonella Soldaini, which includes texts and memoirs by the artist.
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“…It seemed to me that, without abandoning science but trying to apply its achievements to a real transformation of human material, with art one could touch this profound element… In art I found a great space. There was conceptual art that carried a strong critical charge toward the conventional art system. In that sphere I found a fertile environment that was willing to accommodate my research requirements easily.” Marco Bagnoli – From Marco Bagnoli by Germano Celant – Skira 2018
The generation of artists to which Marco Bagnoli belongs and that emerged in a more or less compact manner between the late 1970s and the following decade – from Remo Salvadori to Jan Vercruysse, and including Ettore Spalletti, Franz West, Reinhard Mucha, Thomas Schütte, Shirazeh Houshiary, and Anish Kapoor, just to name those to whom Bagnoli was closest – used the place and notion of exhibitions as one in which theory as practice is realised.
Bagnoli in particular began in 1981 – and continues to the present day – to occupy places of historical and religious tradition in his home territory, the place he recognises and in which he identifies himself, Tuscany. In that first instance in 1981, this involved the Villa Medicea La Ferdinanda in Artimino.
It would then be the turn of Filippo Brunelleschi’s Pazzi Chapel in 1984, the Octagonal Hall at the Fortezza da Basso in 1989, the Palazzo Pubblico and Acqua Borra in Siena in 1999, Forte di Belvedere in 2003 and 2017, the Boboli Gardens in 2013, and Stazione Leopolda in 2014. And the Basilica of San Miniato al Monte from 1992 until 2018 with the Millennial celebration.
Having had an early scientific education, his art makes inroads into chemistry, alchemy and physics, in the same way that it transitions from esotericism to mysticism, recognising what Ananda K. Coomaraswamy called metaphysical tradition. Spazio X Tempo brings in the red band in the golden section that constitutes his cipher. He delves into the Upanishads and intones with Rumi. At the same time he looks at the last declinations of Western Art as manifested before its decline, from Cézanne to Malevič, Joseph Beuys to Mario Merz.
Pier Luigi Tazzi, Janua Coeli 2018-2019