Biografia

Felice Martinelli è nato il 6 luglio 1962 a Coccaglio (Brescia) dove attualmente vive e lavora.
Nel 1983 si diploma alla Civica Scuola di Liuteria antica a Milano e studia presso l’Accademia di Belle Arti Carrara di Bergamo.
Nel 1988 si diploma in pittura presso l’Accademia di Belle Arti Brera a Milano, dove insegna dall’anno accademico 1991-1992.
Notevole per la sua formazione e riflessione artistica la conoscenza e l’attraversamento di volti, luoghi e spazi della memoria, quali Lindholm Høje e Instanbul, vaste aree del Sud est asiatico e l’India, o l’incontro con la poetica di Nazim Hikmet, e del musicista e compositore Domenico Clapasson con il quale ha curato diverse edizioni tra le quali Nuovi antichissimi mondi (2001) e Wedding Songs (2005).
Numerose le monografie che ne illustrano l’iter operativo: Anatomiche (1990), Grande Bocca Altri fuochi (1999), Vertigini (2000), Un giorno sognai la mia genesi (2003), Il vento non muore di sete (2003), Colpo d’ala (2005), Genetic Sound (2005), Voragine Meravigliante (2007), Crash (2011), Quasi Ombra (2014), FELIX #ArchivioFeliceMartinelli (2022).
Presente in rassegne nazionali ed estere, Biennale di Venezia 2011, si occupa della progettazione di opere in contesti architettonici e paesaggistici, tra queste le ultime Danza cosmica (2004) e la monumentale stele Genetic Sound (per TOORA Group, 2005).
Cosmica (2005) – Comune di Rudiano (BS)
Trittico, site specific (2010) – Museo Diocessano Brescia
Crash, site specific (2011) – in un progetto dell’Arch. Roberto Falconi – Brescia

Ultime gallerie fotografiche

Biography

Felice Martinelli was born in 1962 in Coccaglio (Brescia), where he lives and works.
In 1983 he earned his Diploma in the School of Liuteria Antica in Milano. He also began attending classes at the Carrara Fine Arts Academy in Bergamo. In 1988 he graduated from the Brera Fine Arts Academy in Milano. He has taught there since 1992.
His development as an artist was greatly influenced by people and places, from Lindholm Høje to Istanbul, from vast swathes of the Indian and South-East Asian landscapes to the poetry of Nazim Hikmet.
With the musician and composer Domenico Clapasson in the most recent years has published several editions, among those Nuovi antichissimi mondi, 2001, and Wedding Songs, 2005.
Various monographs describe his work: Anatomiche (1990), Grande Bocca Altri fuochi (1999), Vertigini (2000), Un giorno sognai la mia genesi (2003), Il vento non muore di sete (2003), Colpo d’ala (2005), Genetic Sound (2005), Voragine Meravigliante (2007), Crash (2011), Quasi Ombra (2014) and FELIX #ArchivioFeliceMartinelli (2022).

He has exhibited many times both in Italy and abroad, Biennale di Venezia 2011, and has won a number of awards.
He is involved in designing works for insertion in architectural interiors and exteriors and landscapes, the most recent ones Danza Cosmica, 2004, and the monumental installation Genetic Sound, 2005.
Cosmica (2005) – Comune di Rudiano (BS)
Trittico, site specific (2010) – Museo Diocessano Brescia
Crash, site specific (2011) – in un progetto dell’Arch. Roberto Falconi – Brescia

In Martinelli’s studio, the pursuit is of the tireless exercise of technique over technicality.
Fire, blowtorch, hammers, scalpels, plaster casts, kilns, sanding and turning are a craft,
a knowledge built up over decades of practice and experimentation,
a rarity born from pencil or paper, proof that drawing is an essential skill for a sculptor and that gravity and lightness,
the fleeting and the indelible, opaque mass and infinite,
shadowy subtlety are not opposites in sculpture but coinvolved and coexisting.
Trough each of his works, regardless of material and size,
Martinelli alters the space which seems to become site-specific for his work, not by submission but by agreement, spontaneous harmony, and inventio.