NINO MUSTICA (1946, Adrano – 2018, Milan)


He was an Italian painter and sculptor known for the transposition of painting into architectural forms.


Mustica taught at the Art Institute of Catania, the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, the University of Fine Arts in Budapest and the Polytechnic University of Milan.

His works have been exhibited in Italy and abroad: 9th Street Gallery, New York (1981), Hete A.M. Hünermann Gallery, Düsseldorf (1990), Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Bologna (1990); Museum of Modern Art, Buenos Aires (1994), Art Basel (1997), Gibellina and Budapest (1999), Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice (2000), Beijing International Art Biennial (2005), Architecture Biennial, Arsenale, Venice (2010) and Galleria d’arte Moderna, Genoa (2013).

His works are permanently represented in the following public collections: Academy of Fine Arts in Budapest; Museum of Contemporary Art in Buenos Aires; José Luis Cuevas Museum in Mexico City; Dresdner Bank in Düsseldorf; Boca Raton Museum in Boca Raton; Hypo Bank in Frankfurt; Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna in Gallarate; Casabianca Museum in Milan; Milan, Comit; Moscow, Krymsky Val; Lisbon, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian; Portofino, Museo del Parco di Portofino, Centro Internazionale di Scultura all’Aperto; Rijeka, Muzej Grada Rijeka; Zagreb, Museo di Arte Moderna MGC Prostor.

‘For me, starting over from any point in my history is very fascinating. I don’t like repeating myself, I think that repeating a formula is an exhaustion of the pictorial vein. If I were to repeat myself tomorrow, I hope to stop painting, it wouldn’t make sense anymore. For me, art is an existential expression.
Nino Mustica (2000)

Solo exhibitions
2017
111 Espressioni, Galerija Radio-televizije Srbije, Beograd.
2014
Le origini della pittura di Nino Mustica, MACN – Museo d’Arte Contemporanea e del Novecento, Monsummano Terme.
Nino Mustica, Gallery Jeon, Daegu (Korea).
2013
Simbiosi, Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Genova.
2012
Sparkle, Galleria Bianca Maria Rizzi e Matthias Ritter, Milano.
2011
Sparkle, Triennale di Milano, Spazio Material ConneXion, Milano.
Evoluzioni pittoriche, Castello Visconteo Mediceo, Melegnano.

Participations
2015
Biennale Cina-Italia, Beijing

Installations
2015
The Catch, scultura per la Coppa del Mondo di Rugby 2015, collaborazione tra Nino Mustica e Gerry McGovern (Design Director Land Rover), Twickenham Stadium, England – Millennium Stadium, Wales.
2014
Unstoppable Spirit, collaborazione tra Nino Mustica e Gerry McGovern, Fuorisalone, Piazza Gae Aulenti, Milano
Unstoppable Spirit, collaborazione tra Nino Mustica e Gerry McGovern, Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Center, London.

Other works
2017
Morphologies, Collezione di quattro tappeti per Artep, Verona.
2011
Poster per Selected Artworks, Milano.

Solo exhibitions
2010
Pittura solida – Steel, Piazza del Duomo – Chiesa di Sant’Agostino, Pietrasanta.
2009
Pittura solida, Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas, La Habana.
2008
Novalis Contemporary Art, Torino.
Concept, Stefano Civati Art Consulting, Milano.
Mustica Tower, Leda Fletcher Gallery, Genève.
XXIII Congresso Internazionale UIA, Unione Internazionale degli Architetti, Lingotto, Torino.
2007
Galleria Memoli, Matera.
11 Totems, Gaya Art Space, Ubud, Bali (Indonesia).
2006
Era Eros, Villa Rufolo, Ravello.
Bury Art Gallery & Museum, Bury, Manchester.

Participations
2010
Culture-Nature – 12. Biennale di Architettura, Spazio Thetis, Arsenale, Venezia.
2009
Star-T. L’arte sotto le stelle, Galleria Umberto I, Torino.

Installations
2006
Pictorial Evolutions, Infinite Paintings, Fiera, Rimini.

Solo exhibitions
2004
Galleria Artecontemporanea, Catania.
Arte Contemporanea Memoli, Busto Arsizio.
2003
Leda Fletcher Gallery, Genève.
2002
Galerie der Stadt, Waiblingen.
MEO – Kortàrs Muvészeti Gyujtemény, Budapest.
Muzej Grada Novog Sada, Novi Sad.
2001
Mairie du V Arrondissement, Paris.
Gary Nader Fine Arts, Miami.
Fine Art University, Budapest.
New Art Gallery Dante Vecchiato, Padova.
2000
Omaggio a Nino Mustica, Art Miami 2000, Miami.
Concezioni pittoriche luminose, Expo Hannover, Zumtobel, Berlin.
Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venezia.

Participations
2005
Open 2005. 8th International Exhibition of Sculptures and Installations, Venezia.
2nd Beijing International Art Biennale, Beijing.

Solo exhibitions
1999
Museo Civico d’Arte Contemporanea, Gibellina.
WAM Gallery, Budapest.
1998
Muzej Grada, Rijeka.
Umjetnicka Galerija, Dubrovnik.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Trogir (Croatia).
1997
Museo Casabianca, Malo.
Galerie Schloss Mochental, Ehingen/Donau.
1996
Simone Art Gallery, Bratislava.
Museo José Luís Cuevas, Ciudad de México.
1995
Palazzo Ducale, Sabbioneta.
Modern Art Museum MGC Prostor, Zagreb.
Contemporary Art Pavilion Juraj Sporer, Opatija (Croatia).
Studio Carlo Grossetti, Milano.
1994
Galleria La Seggiola, Salerno.
Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires.
Chiesa del Carmine, Taormina.
Consolato Argentino, Milano.

Participations
1999
Immagine Italia, WAM Gallery, Budapest.
1997
Noi non abbiamo paura del Blu, Galleria Blu, Milano.
The International Art Fair, Galleria Blu, Basel.

Installations
1999
Forma pittorica tridimensionale, Museo Civico, Gibellina.
1997
Forme pittoriche tridimensionali, Installazione sul mare di Linosa, Isola di Linosa.

Solo exhibitions
1993
Galleria San Luca, Bologna.
Linea Arte Contemporanea, Firenze.
Galleria Priuli agli Scalzi, Venezia.
Castello di Sartirana, Pavia.
Galería Thema, Buenos Aires.
Art Gallery Zaalberg, Delft.
1992
Museum of Fine Arts, La Valletta.
Gli insegnamenti del colore, Galleria Osti 4, Milano.
Krimsky Val, Moskva.
1991
Galleria Jaccarino, Padova.
1990
Galleria Hete A.M. Hünermann, Düsseldorf.
National Museum of Archaeology, La Valletta.
Galleria Art Club, Catania.

Participations
1992
New Geographics of Italian Abstraction, Krimsky Val, Moskva.
1990
Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna, Bologna.

Other works
1992-1993
Progetti per arazzi e tappeti editi da Marco Contini, Milano.
1991
Poster e francobolli per Immaginario mediterraneo, Siracusa.
1990
Copertina del disco Jackie Stewart per Vox Pop Records.

Solo exhibitions
1989
Galleria Studio 15, Milano.
1987
Galleria Jaccarino, Padova.
1986
Dresdner Bank, Düsseldorf.
Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Valverde, Pavia.
Galleria Lu Austoni, Milano.
Galleria Il Sale, Catania.
1984
Kunstgalerie Cecilienallee, Düsseldorf.
1981
9th Street Gallery, New York.
1980
Galleria Le Arti, Catania.
1990
Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna, Bologna.

Participations
1986
Autori in cattedra, Istituto Statale d’Arte, Catania.
1982
Zebra One Gallery, London.

Installazioni
1988
Pitture scenografiche, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa (itinerante a Oporto, Cairo, Cannes).
1987
Installazione pittorica, Hypo-Bank, Frankfurt.
1986
Pitture murali, Dresdner Bank, Düsseldorf.
1984
Cwmni Dawns, videoscenografia, Jumper Dance Company, Cardiff.
1982Installazioni pittoriche, Parco delle Terme, Acireale.

Other works
1989-2000
Manifesti per LEM Edizioni, Milano, exhibited at: Expo Art, New York; Macef, Milano; Cart’89, Milano; Saca, Bologna; Frankfurter Buchmesse, Frankfurt am Main; MilanoPoesia, Milano; International Spring Fair, Birmingham.
1987
Realizzazione di due francobolli per la campagna Polioplus, Rotary International.

He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, and before that at the Art Institute in Catania, where, at the age of twenty, he was appointed professor of Life Drawing and Visual Education.

He taught at the Istituto Statale d’Arte in Catania, at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan, at the University of Fine Arts in Budapest and at the Polytechnic University of Milan.

In the early seventies, he spent time in London and Copenhagen, and in the early eighties, he moved to New York. He left Sicily for good in 1986 and moved to Milan.

The artist’s research is primarily oriented towards the exploration of the potential for shaping colour through the process of formulating paint

His research is primarily oriented towards the exploration of the potential for shaping colour through the process of formulating paint. In 1994, he transformed colour and emotion into forms on the canvas using computer graphics and 3D modelling. This pioneering technique allowed him to rework his own paintings, creating abstract three-dimensional forms. This process is still unique and personal to him.
Mustica’s abstract and weightless three-dimensional pictorial forms have been translated and scaled up to architecture.

His discourse is transversal: music becomes chromatic abstraction, painting becomes three-dimensional pictorial form and the latter becomes architecture.

The preferred techniques and materials for the paintings are oil paint, enamel, acrylic, Duco, resin, pigment and graphite on canvas.

The three-dimensional pictorial forms are made of fibreglass.

In the graphic works, the techniques used are silkscreen, engraving, linocut, etching and printing on paper.