Exhibitions

Some places of the world have magical power. One of the most famous of them is undoubtedly the Italian Venice – the city that is in itself an artistic gem. Perhaps there is no someone who would not hear about this place, and who would not desire to see it with his own eyes, and then again and again go back there. In this magical city has always converge all the lines of force of Art – in Venice worked great artists such as Canaletto, Bellini, Giorgione, Veronese, Mantegna, Tintoretto, Tizian, Tiepolo, Verocchio, Canova – to mention just a few of the most famous of them. In this city is simply not possible to avoid art and its impact, we meet it at every step.
In 1750 was in Venice founded (and since then is continuously educating new artists) one of the most famous art academies in the world – Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia. At its establishment stood artists such as Gianbattista Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista Piazzetta and there have been teaching numerous world-renowned artists.
And just at this famous academy is working as a professor also well-known Italian artist Marilena Nardi – this fact in itself is already a sign of the highest quality. At her birth had to be extremely favorable constellation of stars and next to her cradle had to stand especially generous fairies because they have given her not only an extraordinary charm and intellect but also a huge artistic talent. And they have done very well – Marilena Nardi has used these gifts in the maximum extent – she herself creates not only artworks of extraordinary quality, but is able to perfectly transmit her artistic skills and experiences also to her students from various countries.

Marilena Nardi was born on 29th October 1966 in Chiampo, near Vicenza, Italy. She created her first cartoons at the age of 16, participating in some competitions of illustration and graphic humor and collaborating with a local magazine. After the artistic maturity and the subsequent degree in Art in 1986 and in Sculpture in 1990, she devoted herself to teaching at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice: since 1992 she has become the Professor of Artistic Anatomy and since 2003 also of Illustration. In addition to her pedagogical activities Marilena Nardi focuses mainly on illustrations, graphic humor, satire, caricatures and portraits. Since 1984 she has participated at hundreds of exhibitions of graphic humor and illustration in Italy and in the world and her artworks have been awarded a large number of prestigious prizes (see below). Marilena Nardi is often invited to be a member of juries of the International Cartoon Competitions all around the world – let us mention some of them: 2000 – the VIII National Festival of Humorous cartoon “Premio Xavier Memmo” Lanciano (Italy); 2006 – The International Biennial of Graphic Humor “Wine, humor and imagination”, the IX International Festival of Graphic Humor; 2009 – the 2nd International Cartoon Contest Olive (Cyprus), 2013 – World Press Cartoon Sintra (Portugal); 2014 – the 4th International Turhan Selcuk Cartoon Contest (Turkey); the 1st International Cartoon Contest Maidan (Ukraine); the 46° Concorso Internazionale Umoristi a Marostica (Italy). In 2014, she was the President of the Jury in the International Contest Satyrykon Legnica (Poland). She collaborated with many Italian newspapers and magazines, such as Il Corriere della Sera, ViviMilano, CorriereEconomia, CorriereSoldi, CorriereLavoro, CorriereScuola, but also Diario, Gente Money, Borsa & Finanza, Avvenimenti, Salute Naturale, Il nostro budget, Monthly, etc. She created the illustrations of the animated fairy tale “How deserts were born” for the TV program “The moon upside down”. Recently, she has collaborated with the Italian satirical newspapers Il Misfatto, L’Antitempo, Il ruvido and the international Fire. Some drawings she created for MicroMega online, Il Nuovo Male and for Il fiore del partigiano (ANPI). Marilena Nardi has also collaborations with many blogs and online journals, including l’Asino, Aspirina, the magazine, Buduar and ANPI.it. Currently, she mainly draws for the daily Il Fatto Quotidiano and for the bimonthly magazine Barricate! Some artworks by Marilena Nardi are presented in the following museums of humour art: Bajardo, Bronzolo, Tolentino, Istanbul, Tehran, Zemun and in the Museum of Science and Technology in Milan. You can find her in the Dictionary of contemporary illustrators, edited by E. Bragaglia and T. Grossi, published by Centro di documentazione dell’Illustrazione Contemporanea, Bronzolo, Bolzano. In the last time Marilena Nardi made a major solo exhibition in Piracicaba, Brazil, as part of the 39th International Cartoon Humor Exhibition. As have been written by Luca Novelli in “Grafica & Disegno”, No. 37: “She can draw anything: love, health, children, business & finance. Always with a light touch, irony and a remarkable sense of humour”. Marilena Nardi is living in Maserada sul Piave, Italy.

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LIST OF AWARDS: (the list does not include all awards received in the years 2011 to 2015)

• 2014 – Zemun International Salon of Caricature, Serbia – Theme: “The peace is better – antiwar cartoons” – 2nd Prize
• 2013 – 41st Premio forte dei Marmi per la satira politica e stato – Assigned for satirical drawing
  
• 2011 – 11th International Editorial Cartoon Competition, conferred by The Canadian Commission for Unesco and The Canadian Committee for World Press Freedom, Ottawa. Theme: “Wikileaks” and its creators: villains or heroes? – Grand Prize
• 2011 – 3rd Edizione di Cartoon SEA Premio nazionale di umorismo e satira. Theme: “Dear precarious” – Special prize of the Jury
  
• 2011 – Concorso nazionale di Umorismo e Satira Arti ridens 2011, Castello di Campori a Soliera. Theme: Unemployed: the lack of working in Europe – 3rd Prize
  
• 2011 – 5 in economia! …e che ridere! by the Studio d’Arte Andromeda di Trento in collaboration with the Festival dell’Economia – 3rd Prize
• 2011 – 23rd Rassegna Nazionale Umorismo e Satira, Dolo. Theme: “Happiness” – Special Prize of the Jury
  
• 2010 – Humour a Gallarate XV Edizione International Cartoon Contest – Grand Prix “Marco Biassoni”. Theme: “Modern art” – 1st Prize
  
• 2010 – XXXIV Campionato italiano della bugia, Le Piastre, Pistoia – Third place for the graphics section
  
• 2010 – Galantara, Montelupone – Special Prize
  
• 2009 – II Edizione Carta Vetrata, Concorso nazionale di Satira e Umorismo, Civitanova Marche, Theme: “Guys and Dolls” – Special Prize
  
• 2009 – XXXIII Campionato italiano della bugia, Le Piastre, Pistoia, Pitillo Prize for graphics section
  
• 2009 – IV Edizione Concorso Nazionale Rigomagno-Ridens, June 2009, Theme: “The pig against the economic crisis“ – Awarded artwork
  
• 2009 – III Edizione L’ortica, Concorso Nazionale di Satira e Umorismo, Ferentino, Theme: Homo Ridens: a tribute to Charles Darwin – Winning work
  
• 2009 – II Edizione Sport Humor, le Olimpiadi del sorriso, Rassegna Internazionale di Grafica umoristica, Castello degli Acaja, Fossano – Prize of Città di Fossano
• 2008 – 14th Edizione della Rassegna Humour a Gallarate, Premio dell’arte leggera Marco Biassoni, Gallarate. Theme: “Fire” – Honorable mention
  
• 2007 – 1st Edizione del Concorso Sagrana, Barchi – Honorable mention
• 2007 – 39th Rassegna Internazionale di Grafica Umoristica Umoristi a Marostica, Theme: “Beauty”, section of cartoon, Grand Prize International Scacchiera
• 2007 – 19th Rassegna Nazionale Umorismo e Satira, Dolo. Theme: “Quegli animali delle favole siamo noi” – Artwork awarded
  
• 2006 – 38th Rassegna Internazionale di Grafica Umoristica Umoristi a Marostica, Theme: “Dreams”, section of cartoon – International Award for finalist work
  
• 2005 – 3rd Edizione Premio Internazionale di Grafica e Satira di costume Giuseppe Novello, Theme: Internet – Artwork signposted
• 2005 – 11th Edizione della Rassegna Humour a Gallarate, Premio dell’ arte leggera Marco Biassoni, Gallarate. Theme: The woman – 1st Prize
  
• 2005 – 18th Rassegna Internazionale di Satira Trento tra realta e follia. Theme: “Adam and Eve, an apple was enough” – Artwork signposted
  
• 2005 – 37th Rassegna Internazionale di Grafica Umoristica Umoristi a Marostica. Theme: “Toys”, Cartoon section – International Award for finalist work
  
• 2003 – 35th Rassegna Internazionale di Grafica Umoristica Umoristi a Marostica. Theme: “The food”, Cartoon section – International Award for finalist work
• 2003 – 22nd Biennale Internazionale dell’Umorismo nell’ Arte, Tolentino. Theme: Migration – Artwork signposted
  
• 2001 – 13th Rassegna Nazionale Umorismo e Satira, Dolo. Theme: Massacre at work – 3rd Prize
  
• 2001 – 33rd Rassegna Internazionale di Grafica Umoristica Umoristi a Marostica, Theme: “Alien” – Special Prize Sandro Carlesso for the graphical experimentation
  
• 2000 – 7th Rassegna Nazionale della Vignetta Umoristica premio Saverio Memmo, Lanciano – 1st Prize
  
• 1998 – First World Festival of Cartoon, Medellin, Colombia. Theme: “Peace and Tolerance” – Honorable Mention
• 1998 – 2nd Concorso Nazionale per una fiaba illustrata Sulle Ali delle farfalle, Bordano – Artwork signposted
  
• 1998 – 3rd Premio Internazionale d’Illustrazione per l’Infanzia Scarpetta d’oro, Vigonovo – Artwork signposted
• 1998 – Concorso Nazionale di Grafica Umoristica Castello di Avacelli, Arcevia. Theme: “Humor and Nature” – 1st Prize
  
• 1998 – 10th Rassegna Nazionale Umorismo e Satira, Dolo. Theme: The Praise, Plate Award Gazzettino
  
• 1998 – 30th Rassegna Internazionale di Grafica Umoristi a Marostica. Theme: Faithfulness, double International Prize finalist work (section Cartoon and Strip)
  
• 1997 – 3rd Concorso Nazionale di Disegno umoristico Citta di Gallarate, Theme: “Cloning” – 1st Prize
  
• 1997 – 29th Rassegna Internazionale di Grafica Umoristi a Marostica. Theme: “Fashion & Mode”, Strip section – International Award for finalist work
• 1997 – 2nd Premio Internazionale d’Illustrazione per l’Infanzia Scarpetta d’oro, Vigonovo – Honorable mention
  
• 1986 – 18th Rassegna Internazionale di Grafica Umoristica Umoristi a Marostica. Theme: “Hobby” Strip section, Artwork signposted
  
• 1985 – Vicenza, citta bellissima e pulita, Concorso per la realizzazione di un manifesto, promosso da AIM – Awarded artwork
  

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* Large list of artistic activities of Marilena Nardi in the years 1984 – 2011 (exhibitions, competitions, publications) in Italian language you can find HERE

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There are relatively few women working in the field of cartoons and caricature. Marilena Nardi is the first woman whose work we present in the Cartoon Gallery through a large representative collection. How you will convince yourself, it is definitely a great and inspiring experience!

(For fullscreen presentation in “Slideshow” mode click under the picture to such button )

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