Exhibition 'More Than This' Explores Contemporary Painting Collective from Venice's Atelier F

The exhibition 'More Than This' at Bologna's Pinacoteca Nazionale in 2026 presents works by a group of painters in their thirties and forties who share educational backgrounds at Atelier F within Venice's Accademia di Belle Arti. Curated by Daniele Capra, the show features twelve artists including Francesco Cima, Paolo Pretolani, Chiara Calore, Chiara Peruch, Nebojša Despotović, Jingge Dong, Maria Giovanna Zanella, Beatrice Gelmetti, Thomas Braida, Aleksander Velišček, Adelisa Selimbašić, and Danilo Stojanović. Their artistic approaches range from material-based painting to meticulous techniques resembling tapestry and mosaic, with varied treatments of imagery from rarefaction to ratification. Capra explains that Atelier F emerged as a collaborative teaching environment in the mid-2000s through exchanges between instructors like Carlo Di Raco and Martino Scavezzon, students, and alumni. While these artists are sometimes labeled a 'Venice School,' Capra notes they lack stylistic unity, instead sharing a communal working method characterized by non-competitive dialogue and collective intelligence. The exhibition represents the first institutional recognition of this educational phenomenon, though Capra acknowledges the selection is necessarily limited and some invited artists declined participation. Venice's enduring painting tradition, he suggests, continues through constant reinterpretation rather than mere adherence to heritage.