Luca Bertolo Wins 2024 Osvaldo Licini Prize

Luca Bertolo, born in 1968 in Milan, has been awarded the fourth edition of the Premio Osvaldo Licini by Fainplast. The prize, established in 2021 in Ascoli Piceno, honors the painter Osvaldo Licini from Monte Vidon Corrado, known for his melancholic landscapes. Bertolo, a painter who studied Information Sciences at the University of Milan before graduating in painting from Brera Academy in 1998, and who has taught painting at the Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna since 2015, was selected by a jury of experts from a shortlist of five artists. The award includes a monetary prize and an artistic residency at Spazio Premio Licini in Ascoli Piceno, where Bertolo will develop works for a solo exhibition scheduled for December at the Galleria d’Arte Contemporanea Osvaldo Licini, curated by Alessandro Zechini, artistic director of the Associazione Arte Contemporanea Picena. The exhibition will feature paintings created specifically for the gallery, engaging in dialogue with Licini’s own collection. Bertolo expressed his happiness at receiving a prize dedicated to painting, noting that while painting was once considered a living fossil, it is now fashionable at fairs, but that good painting has always been difficult. He reflected on discovering Licini’s work thirty years ago, finding it almost empty yet captivating, and stated that art hinges on that 'almost nothing,' requiring courage and delicacy.