Giorgio Burnelli was born in Minerbio (Bologna) on December 23rd 1945. He attended the School of Art in Bologna and then completed his artistic training at the Academy of Fine Arts, where his masters were Pompilio Mandelli, Giuseppe Milesi and Paolo Manaresi. On May 1st 1972 he won the “Collegio Venturoli” scholarship, which included a free study, colors to paint and 40.000 lire per month. Later he obtained a job at the same College where he worked until December 1977.

From 1975 to 2012 he taught Decoration and Painting Techniques at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna.

In 1969, before graduating, he took part in his first exhibition, a group exhibition of five artists at Autostazione delle Corriere di Bologna. The following year he left for Arezzo and, after having fulfilled his military service obligations, he headed to Germany to refine his artistic knowledge. He soon moved to Poland, where he met a group of academics from the Krakow Academy, an enlightening meeting for his artistic research that from this moment seemed to take new directions. On the island of Wolin, island of the National Park that divides the Szczecin Lagoon from the Baltic Sea, it had the opportunity to participate in several group exhibitions and organize some personal exhibitions. From that moment the stays in Poland had follow each other with a certain continuity.

In the summer of 1990 he made a trip to Paris and for the next five years he continued to frequent France, periodically going to paint at the caste of Nesles la Giberde near Coullommiers. Pablo Picasso and Max Ernst also worked in that castle.

He made also numerous trips to America, often in New York, where he had the opportunity to present his work to many art experts who had appreciate his artistic value, giving him new opportunities for growth. In 1997 he returned to Italy, a very prolific period began and marks a watershed in his expressive language: the first phase is marked by paintings that could be defined as Informal, in which it can be perceived mysterious evanescent presences, typical Kafkaesque figures; over time the space in his paintings expanded to the point of becoming rarefied, landscapes became protagonists but are covered with mystery, with a dreamlike charm. The surreal colors, the dazzling brightness, made them become metaphysical and dream landscapes.

He currently lives and works in Bologna.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

1976 – Solo exhibition “Fantasie oniriche” – Galleria d’Arte II Capricorno, Modena; Group exhibition – Centro Sportivo Record Sport Bologna.

1981 – Galleria La Sfera, Modena; Verica Millenaria, Verica (Modena).

1982 – Galleria d’Arte Sala Gialla, Carpi (Modena).

1984 – Stern Gallery, Lucerna; ArteFiera Bologna.

1985 – “Natura e paesaggi d’invenzione” – Accademia dei Concordi, Rovigo.

1986 – “II Segno dell’Ombra” – Palazzo la Torretta, Molinella (Bologna).

1987 – Villa Bassi-Baumgart, Abano terme; Palazzo dei principi, Correggio.

1995 – “Paesaggi Immaginati” – Galleria San Sebastiano, Mantova.

1997 – Group exhibition “Nature d’emozione” curated by Graziano Campanini, catalogue: Grafiche dell’Artiere Bentivoglio; Group exhibition “Verosimilia” – Galleria d’Arte Fossalta, Bologna; Group exhibition “Nature dipinte” – Castello di Spezzano, Fiorano Modenese (Modena); Vancouver, Canada.

1998 – Group exhibition “Onde parallele”, Sala mostre del Comune di Sasso Marconi; Homage to Enzo Ferrari, Castello di Spezzano, Fiorano Modenese (Modena); Galleria Punto Arte, Modena; Dediche, Grizzana Morandi, Bologna.

1999 – Solo exhibition, Sala mostre del Comune di Sasso Marconi; Group exhibition “Anacronie” – Galleria d’Arte Fossalta, Bologna; Group exhibition “Nature d’Emozione” – Castello Bentivoglio, Bologna; Solo exhibition, Museo Civico, Castelfranco Emilia; “Il paesaggio bolognese, dal realismo al mitico” – Cà La Ghironda, Ponte Ronca (Bologna); “L’Anima del paesaggio, Sala Comunale d’Arte Sasso Marconi (Bologna).

2000 – Group exhibition “Musica e pittura. Ascoltare la pittura” – Conservatorio di Musica G. B. Martini Bologna.

2001 – Solo exhibition “Mosaici di Parole” – Sala mostre del Comune di Sasso Marconi (Bologna).

2003 – Group exhibition “Formato 30 x 40” – Galleria d’Arte San Rocco, Cento (Ferrara).

2004/2005 – Solo exhibition Galleria d’Arte Incontri, Vignola (Modena).

2006 – Solo exhibition “II paesaggio fantastico” – Museo Sandro Parmeggiani, Renazzo, Cento (Ferrara).

2013 – Galleria d’Arte Contemporanea “Il calabrone”, Cento (Ferrara).

2015 – Group exhibition “L’alfabeto delle ombre” – Emil Banca per la cultura, Sala Colonne, Bologna.