BIOGRAPHY
Orlando Donadi was born in 1943 in Treviso, the city where he
still lives and works, and has behind him a long and important career.
Interested in the expressive possibilities of painting, graphics, sculptures, he presented
his first one-man show in 1965.
Since then, an incessant and methodical artistic activity, accompanied by
frequent journeys in Europe, Africa and America, shows his continuous maturing as a painter.
The final realisation of a personal style and message can be seen in his works
during the '80s and the '90s.
He exhibited his works in many European and American cities, winning prizes,
flattering judgements and important orders.
Among all, the following should be remembered: the "VI International Biennale of art"
in Barcelona in 1979, the setting up of a work in the Mausoleum Assad in Damascus in
1997, the exhibit at the Bischöfliches Dom und Diözesan Museum in Trier in 1998, an
important show at the Municipal Museum of Abano Terme (PD) in 1999, the victory of the
4th prize at the International Biennale of Contemporary Art-Fortezza da Basso" in Florence
again in 1999, the "Fiorino d'oro Award" at Palazzo Vecchio, Salone dei Cinquecento,
in Florence in 2000, a show at the Museum of Science and Technology of Wien in 2001,
an exhibit at Churburg castle in 2004; recently, in September 2007, he held an important
one-man show at the National Museum Villa Pisani in Strà (VE).
In 1997, the CNN broadcast a reportage entirely dedicated to his works and entitled: "You bleeded
the heart and made history weep".
In 2004 Costa Crociere commissioned him a pictorial cycle of great dimension. Donadi's
painting looks like a powerful and original summary of very different sources, that filters
as much from pictorial techniques, as from colour systems and from the conception of masses and spaces.
From the rich masterly tones of colours prepared by the painter himself, as in the best
medieval tradition, it passed to almost urban collage technique.
Enigmatic expressions of Renaissance faces peep out through broken up spaces with cubist hints.
Columns, busts and masks are put next to cafés, boutiques, even mobile phones.
Giotto's frescoes, Raffaello's drapery, the metaphysics of everyday life combine in his panels.
Nevertheless, what dominates is an impression of order and control, of a message wanted by the author,
a product of his own work.
The clear figures, as silent as snapshots, often stand out against backgrounds of neutral colours
and guarantee precise prospective points, to the spectator, almost suggesting lines of reflection
and interpretation, that take him away from the commonplace and something already seen.
In his pictorial reflection the author chooses to light moments of common experience, known
faces and landscapes with vivid colours and precise details, that suggested his peculiar richness,
the unrepeatable originality, the incalculable value of moments full of meaning.
In a word, through his technical wisdom, imagination, industry, Donadi is able to express his
own original interpretation of the world.
