Prof. Roberto Mannino is an Italian-American artist and educator living and working in Rome, Italy. He holds a B.F.A. in Sculpture from Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI, and an equivalent Sculpture Degree from the Rome Academy of Fine Arts.
His artistic production ranges from intaglio printmaking, book-arts, watermarking, relief and site-specific sculptural installation. Mannino has an extensive background in Printmaking (National Cabinets of Prints 1981-87) and has exhibited intensively as a fiber artist. Looking for the appropriate medium for his practice, he has moved from fibers to handmade paper since mid 90’s. Among his prominent works is the permanent Installation Streams created in 2013 for the Istituto Centrale della Grafica in the Sala Dante of Palazzo Poli in Rome, overlooking the Trevi Fountain. Prof. Mannino teaches at TUR but he has taught in others schools like Loyola and Cornell in Rome, City of Rome School of Arts and Crafts, Academy of Fine Arts, Viterbo, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore.
Degrees
B.B.A.A., Sculpture Degree from Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma, Italy.
B.F.A., RISD Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, USA
Courses Taught
ART 2745: Contemporary Papermaking in Rome
ART 2808: Figure Modeling: Rome
Recent Exhibitions
2022 - Cartasfoglia - A Journey Through Illegible Pages - Sala Teatro, Loyola Rome Center, JFRC. Solo exhibit of handmade artist books.
2022 - Fluens Carta - Solo show at Atelier Gallery, Rome. Installation. Text by Antonella Renzitti.
2022 - Remanso - Ten Reflections on Fiber Art - Ex Cartiera Latina, Rome. Installation.
2021 – This Mortal Coil – Zukerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw State University, GA USA.
2021 - Biennale Tracarte 8 – Foggia, Fondazione Monti Uniti di Foggia, Italy.
2021 – Attraversamenti – Sinopia Gallery, Rome. Installation.
2021 - Le Forme del Tempo – Art meeting at the Conventino di Mentana, Installation. Mentana, Italy
2021 - US Embassy, Rome, Italy – Temple Faculty group exhibit, organized by AECA – Tri-Mission Art Gallery.
2020 – Rome Art Week – RAW Temple Gallery, Faculty show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUlorwEfR0A&t=704s
2020 - #Domanininarte Modern Art Gallery, GNAM, Rome, artistic contest, virtual exhibition.
2019 – Contesti – Sinopia Gallery, Rome.
2018 – Ruvidezze 0.2 – Galleria Cartavetra, Florence, Italy.
2018 – Biennale Tracarte 7 – Foggia, Fondazione Monti Uniti di Foggia, Italy
2017 – Anguish: the Grave Misgivings of Remembrance. Institute for Contemporary Art at MECA, Portland, Maine, USA;
2017 – Premio Filigrana D’autore – Fabriano Film Fest –. Fabriano, AP, Italy;
Robert C. Williams Museum of Papermaking – Hand Papermaking Portfolios: Negative Space – 2016 – Picturing the Void. Atlanta, GA USA;
2015 – Off Loom II – Contemporary International Fiber Art – Installation at the Museum of Applied Arts and Popular Tradition, Rome, EUR.;
Streams– Permanent Installation, National Cabinet of Prints and Papers, Rome, 2013.
Artist Statement
I’m exploring form within an abstract, process oriented, non-realistic approach. In my practice I get engaged in transforming physical matter such as fiber cellulose before it turns into a dry paper form, thus working with natural phenomena; I am interested in re-define the boundaries and creative behaviors that handmade paper might play in its role when in conjunction with other artistic processes, namely sculpture, printmaking, relief and book arts. I often use a direct hands-on approach to structure and form combining various techniques borrowed from diverse disciplines in the attempt to create visual and tactile short-circuits in the perceiving of objects and images.
Publications
2021 - Erbari del Matese - Co-author with Margherita Labbe. Editor: Scritture – Promoted by Brera Academy of Fine Art, Milan Italy
2016 – Hand Papermaking Magazine – Summer issue: Industrial/ Medieval: A Conversation with Lorenzo Santoni.
2016 – Hand Papermaking Magazine – Winter issue: Luigi Mecella, Italian inventor and papermaker.
2016 – Hand Papermaking Magazine – Paper dreams of four artists, article of A. Occhipinti.
2014 – Hand Papermaking Magazine – Published edition of 150 prints for Annual Portfolio: Negative Space in Handmade Paper: Picturing the Void .
2012 – Interview and works included in the book ‘Authentic Visual Voices: Contemporary Paper and Encaustic’, a project created by Catherine Nash, Tucson, Az.
2012 – Works published in The Papermaker’s Studio Guide DVD, by Helen Hiebert.
2009 – Hand Papermaking Magazine – 25th Anniversary Issue – Selected to represent the year.
2009 – Hand Papermaking Magazine – Winter issue: Article and essay by Buzz Spector,
2008 – Hand Papermaking Magazine – Included in C. Nash article ‘Beater finesse’
2003 – Hand Papermaking Magazine – Published edition of 150 prints for Annual Portfolio: Innovative Printmaking on Handmade Paper.
Workshops
2022 - Recycle it! Paper recycling workshops for HS and pre-college students. TUR
2022 - Mask making. Clay mask workshops for HS and pre-college students. TUR
2021 - Papermaking as an Art Form – Adult workshop, Temple Rome
2020-2021 - Recycle it! HS students, Temple Rome
2014-2018 - RISD, EHP program, Rome
2000 – 2014 - IAPMA Paper Congress, Sarteano, Siena, Italy
2012 - Silkeborg Museum. Silkeborg, Denmark
2011 - Papierwaspe, Wien, Austria
2009 - Holufgaard, Odense, Denmark
2001 - Pyramid Atlantic, MD
2001 and 2000 - Cooper Union, NYC
2000 - Dieu Donné, NYC
On-line Lectures / Webinars
2022 - Forms of Modernity - Art seminar, Loyola Rome Center, JFRC, lecturer.
2021 - That Which is Malleable: Commemorating the Past and Chronicling the Future – Panel coordinators: Cynthia Thomson and David Charles Chioffi. Invited artists Saul Melman, Roberto Mannino, Melanie Mauro and Stephanie Slate. As part of the virtual North American Hand Papermakers Conference.
2021- Roberto Mannino: Shrinkage as a Creative Practice - In collaboration with Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Milan, and Naples Academy of Fine Arts; a series of lectures coordinated by Faculty Margherita Labbe (Paper Technology) and Angela Vinciguerra (Graphic Arts) supporting the project: Erbari del Matese: from land to fiber, to sheets, to objects.
2021- Roberto Mannino: Handmade Papers and Fibers in his Graphic works. - In collaboration with Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Milan, and Naples Academy of Fine Arts; a lecture coordinated by Faculty Angela Vinciguerra supporting the project: Erbari del Matese: from land to fiber, to sheets, to objects.
2021 In collaboration with YOCOCU (Youth in Conservation of Cultural Heritage): Conservative Restoration on Contemporary Cellulose Artifacts. Paper integrations.
2020 – Meetart, Care of Alessandra Bortomioli, Interview.
2020 – Cautivarte – Care of Adriana Chavez, Studio interview: Roberto Mannino, Master del Papermaking.
2020 Rome Art Week – Temple Rome Faculty Exhibition. Interview.
Artist in Residence
MICA, Printmaking Department, Baltimore, MD 2008.
Villa Montalvo Center for the Arts, Saratoga, CA, 1996
Service Provision / Prof. Associations / Membership
NAHP North American hand papermakers - Member since 2021.
IAPMA International Association Papermakers and Paper Artists – Member since 1996.
HPM Hand papermaking Magazine – Member since 2000, International Advisor since 2015.
Dolphin Press at MICA, Baltimore MD.
Video Links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOmonq98t4s