Artworks by Niccolò Fornari

Niccolò Fornari (Rome, 1996) is a conceptual visual artist who develops his practice between painting and writing. His research investigates the possibility of constructing pictorial surfaces as fields of linguistic tension, in which language takes shape as a map, trace, and device of verbal connection. Words, fragmented or layered, act as spatial elements capable of orienting the viewer’s gaze and generating relationships within the composition.

In his practice, painting takes the form of a process-based device in which gesture, matter, and word are articulated into open visual structures, traversed by specific thematic cores. Each work takes shape from a conceptual core that guides the composition and governs the relationships between sign and surface. Writing becomes a structuring and connective element, capable of generating trajectories of meaning and semantic tensions within the pictorial space.

After obtaining his diploma from a language-focused high school in 2015, Fornari initially approached architecture and fashion design, fields that significantly influenced the formation of his gaze. These experiences contributed to the development of a compositional and structural sensitivity that informs his pictorial language, recognizable in the organization of space, in the rhythm of surfaces, and in the dialectic between fullness and emptiness.

In 2018, driven by the need to structure and deepen his pictorial experimentation, he enrolled at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, Department of Painting, completing his degree in 2024 under the guidance of professors Giuseppe Di Lorenzo and Sergio Sarra. His thesis analyzes the work of three masters of Abstract Expressionism — Willem de Kooning, Emilio Vedova, and Franz Kline — central figures for his pictorial language, with particular attention to their commitment to overcoming the boundaries of the figurative and opening up new expressive and communicative possibilities. In parallel with his academic path, in 2024 the artist undertook an internship as a studio assistant at Betterpress Lab, the first letterpress laboratory (movable type printing) and exhibition space in Rome. This experience allowed him to engage more deeply with the material dimension of the word, further amplifying his interest in writing as a structuring element of his pictorial practice.

Among the most significant exhibitions by Niccolò Fornari are his first solo show, curated by Ofelia Sisca and presented in 2024 at Tenuta di Fiorano, an independent space promoted by Alessandro Boncompagni Ludovisi, director of the Galleria di Roma, and his second solo exhibition, Altro da sé (2025), at Kou Gallery in Rome, curated by Elena Piccioni. In 2025 he also took part in the YICCA – International Contest of Contemporary Art and, on the occasion of Rome Art Week, in the group exhibition Frammenti Visivi at the Ex Stabilimento Campari, Municipio XIII, Rome, curated by Massimo Scaringella. In February 2026, he took part in the group exhibition Espresso Vol. VIII, organized by ColabArt.