From Feb. 21 to March 30, 2026, the Blocco 13 gallery in Rome is hosting Maurizio Pierfranceschi ’s solo exhibition entitled Second State. The exhibition stems from a reworking of a historical painting by the artist, The Awakening, modified in format and content from the original version. The intervention marks the opening of a process of continuous transformation of the works, in which the past re-enters the present and exited characters take on new roles within a true work in progress.
At the center of the interior arrangement, a diptych on the left wall of the gallery depicts a sleeping figure, capable of generating dreamlike images that find correspondence in other paintings and drawings on display, creating a thread between dream and reality. The intimate dimension of the wall works, often set in domestic contexts, is reflected in the installation placed in the courtyard overlooking Via Pigafetta. Here, among the trunks of ligusters, Pierfranceschi has created an iron and plaster work conceived specifically for the space, reworking the theme of the tree, a recurring theme in his artistic research. The installation dialogues with the painting displayed inside and confirms the interest of the author, one of the founders of Blocco 13, in the relationship between sculpture and painting, an idea of continuous contamination between plastic form and painted image.
The exhibition itinerary is part of a conceptual continuity with Pierfranceschi’s previous solo shows. These include Works on Paper of 2023 at the Hyunnart Studio in Rome and the anthological Muta e mute, closed at the end of 2024 at the Mattatoio, which showed the dialogue between painting and sculpture as the artist’s stylistic signature. In the outdoor installation, sculptures emerge from the ground of the courtyard like small domestic deities, suggesting the presence of an unconscious interacting with the urban context of Garbatella, where passersby and visitors can catch fragments of intimate and fragile images. In this sense, Second State alludes as much to the material transformation of the works as to the dimension of dream coexisting with that of wakefulness. The exhibition is accompanied by a critical text by Luca Pietro Nicoletti and a short introduction by Carlo Alberto Bucci, collected in a publication that will be presented after the opening. The volume documents the installation of the works on display and those created for the gallery at 13 Benzoni Street.
Maurizio Pierfranceschi was born in Rome in 1957, the city where he lives and works. He graduated in sculpture from the Accademia di Belle Arti di via Ripetta in 1985, the year of his first solo show at the Il ferro di cavallo gallery in Rome, presented by L. Trucchi. In the 1980s and 1990s he participated in numerous group shows in cities such as Rome, Milan, Moscow and Leningrad. In 1992 he was selected among the ten Italian artists for Japan-Italy, Young Generations at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome, while in 1993 he exhibited at the Drawing Center in New York with The Return of the Cadavre Exquis. His exhibition activity continued with the XII Quadriennale di Roma and Pitture curated by M. Goldin in 1996, with solo and group exhibitions in public and private venues until the 2000s.
In 2005 Pierfranceschi exhibited at Segno in Rome, and in 2008 he participated in group and solo exhibitions including Sotto e sopra at Rampa Prenestina and Antico e Novissimo at Palazzo Mochi Zamperoli in Cagli. This was followed by events such as Amici pittori at Galleria Ceribelli in Bergamo and Pittura d’Italia at Castel Sismondo in Rimini. In 2010 he organized, together with colleagues, the exhibition Quattro passi at Temple Gallery in Rome and took part in E-picentro as part of the International Architecture Exhibition in Venice.
In 2012 he opened the Porta Latina Gallery with Senza specie, and in 2014 he exhibited Umbratilis and Around Vermeer in Italy and abroad. In 2015 is the solo show In terre limose at Galleria Porta Latina, while in 2017 he presents L’uomo e l’albero, an extensive solo exhibition of painting and sculpture at the Bilotti Museum in Rome. Between 2018 and 2019 he participated in international exhibitions in China, at Macro Asilo in Rome and the exhibition Inspired by the silkroad in Kulangsu. In 2022 he makes the solo exhibition Per l’orto at the Botanical Garden in Rome and participates in Fabula Animale, an event organized by the Lunar Society. 2023 sees the solo exhibition Opere su carta at Studio Hyunnart in Rome, with a focus on the artist’s sculptures, while in 2024 he inaugurates Muta e mutavole at Mattatoio, an exhibition of more than sixty works including paintings and sculptures, transferred in 2025 to ARATRO - Museo laboratorio di arte contemporanea del Molise, Università di Campobasso, with 21 selected works.
 |
| In Rome, the Blocco 13 gallery hosts the solo exhibition of Maurizio Pierfranceschi |
Warning: the translation into English of the original Italian article was created using automatic tools. We undertake to review all articles, but we do not guarantee the total absence of inaccuracies in the translation due to the program. You can find the original by clicking on the ITA button. If you find any mistake,please contact us.
IT
FR
DE
ES
CN