Paolo Martinuzzi. An exemplary adventure. Until April 25 2026

Caterina Tognon Contemporary Art is pleased to present the exhibition "PAOLO MARTINUZZI: An Exemplary Adventure. Art Brut in Murano during the 1970s".

The exhibition will be on view until April 25 at the gallery’s San Marco location, situated next to the St. Regis Hotel.

P. Martinuzzi (Venezia, 1933 – 2015), Senza titolo, 1976, Opera unica, Lastra di vetro, incisa con punta di diamante dall'artista, base in legno e ferro, 36 × 20 × 11 cm_ph. Roberto Marossi

Paolo Martinuzzi (Venice IT, 1933 – Venice IT, 2015) was the first artist in Murano to

work with glass for specific expressive and artistic purposes, the Italian precursor of

the Studio Glass movement. Self-taught in Venice in the early 1970s, Martinuzzi

opened the first artist's studio in Murano entirely dedicated to glass artworks,

marking a clear break with the Murano artisan tradition.

His works emerge from an independent research, free from academic models, and they place glass at the center of a visual language so essential that it appears restless and profoundly contemporary.

In 1985, openly challenging the predominantly decorative approach of glass

production in Italy, the artist chose to relocate his practice to Soest, Germany,

where he pursued increasingly free and experimental research. His sculptures are

distinguished by their dialoguing use of materials such as iron and wood, often

recycled and manually transformed by him. He manages to create a formal and

symbolic tension with the transparency and fragility of glass.

A distinctive element of Martinuzzi's work is its strong graphic component: deep

incisions which are obsessively repeated, clean lines crisscross the glass surface,

introducing a sense of restlessness and expressive urgency that brings his work

closer to the realms of Art Brut. A type of art understood as a primary gesture,

without any mediation, generated by instinctive impulses, by an authentic need to

communicate through visual expressions.

Just as in Art Brut, Martinuzzi's work is pure and simple creative action, reinvented

at every stage, far removed from the conventions of “official” art. In this arduous

process, glass loses its decorative aspect to become a place of tension, memory,

and new visions, the living body of the work.

P. Martinuzzi (Venezia, 1933 – 2015), Senza titolo (contenitore con figure incise), inizio anni '80, Opera unica, Vetro soffiato e acidato, inciso con punta di diamante dall'artista, 14 × 13 × 9 cm_ph. Roberto Maros

P. Martinuzzi (Venezia, 1933 – 2015), Quader, 1990, Opera unica, Vetro ottico trasparente, molato a mano e inciso con punta di diamante dall'artista, 30 x 24 x 20 cm_ph. Roberto Marossi

P. Martinuzzi (Venezia, 1933 – 2015), Senza titolo, Opera unica, Vetro soffiato, inciso con punta di diamante dall'artista, base in legno e ferro, 17 x 7 x 10 cm_ph. Roberto Marossi

Exhibition

Until April 25, 2026

Tuesday – Saturday | 10 am – 7 pm

Caterina Tognon Contemporary Art

San Marco 2158, 30124 Venice

next to the Hotel San Regis

Tel. 0039 041 5201566

www.caterinatognon.com