Addio a Mario Nibbi, icona dell’arte e cultura del secondo Novecento locale.
Mario Nibbi, one of the most creative and appreciated artists from Arezzo, passed away on October 11, 2023. He was a key figure in the local art and culture scene since the second half of the 20th century, also playing a crucial role in organizing and setting up major events and exhibitions in the area. Nibbi was born in Cortona in 1936 and developed his unique creative world in the Val di Chiana. He was fascinated by abstraction, and in the 1960s, he created his first paintings and started working in architecture and design, collaborating with renowned public and private technical firms. In the 1970s, he experimented with introducing signs and colors into the design of school buildings for childcare and nursery schools. He later produced drawings, watercolors, and artworks with various techniques, depicting fantastical stories transformed into pictorial matter using an original alphabet of signs and colors that could be enlarged and transferred onto buildings and public spaces. His extensive body of work was featured in solo and group exhibitions in Italy and abroad. Nibbi had a deep connection with Arezzo, his adopted city, and the Giostra del Saracino. He designed the Golden Lance won by Porta Sant’Andrea in 1998 and, commissioned by the Municipality of Arezzo, he planned the arrangement of the roundabout dedicated to the historical reenactment at the Battifolle exit of the Autostrada del Sole. In late 2018, a major exhibition at the Circolo Artistico in Arezzo focused on the artist’s last 25 years of activity, showcasing many previously unseen works. Despite his advanced age, Nibbi demonstrated a freshness of language that astonished visitors. The exhibition catalog featured a short critique that paid tribute to an artist who left an indelible mark on all those who knew him. It described Nibbi as one of the most long-lived and eclectic artists in the current Arezzo art scene, whose work was characterized by experimentation with materials, techniques, and mediums. His art conveyed a poetic, sometimes playful, dialogue between the human being and the surrounding environment. Painting, drawing, and graphic design coexisted in his work, expressing his passion for a past to be transmitted and his love for his land, Arezzo and the Val di Chiana, through references to architecture, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic figures. Nibbi depicted a magical world, an anthropized landscape where man does not dominate nature. The critique highlighted his recognizable style that captivates through the consciousness of the sign and the balanced distribution of colors. Symbols, letters, and keywords float in the sea of creativity, opening the doors of an idyllic, serene, and joyful dimension to the observer.
Addio a Mario Nibbi, “Ha segnato l’arte e la cultura locale della seconda metà del Novecento”
Arezzo Addio a Mario Nibbi, icona dell'arte e cultura del secondo Novecento locale. GN