Biography

Luca Mainini is born in Novara, a town near Milan, in 1983. Since the primary school he cultivates his creativeness: he writes short tales and invents stories to write out and keep.

In the same age, his first collages are created: cuttings from newspapers that Luca puts together to create something new.

TV catches his attention when transmitting films and a young Luca watches and records them as well, starting to build his own little personal collection. Luca needs more “cerebral food”, he’s looking for new spurs. That’s the reason why quite every day, before going home after school, he buys in a little video tape shop two or three tapes to devour greedily in his bedroom. This goes on until his teens, when unfortunately the store closes.

Luca’s creative talent grows up reacher and reacher thanks to the many input transmitted from the movies he watches and his artistic manner continues among the written words, his main expressive language for now.

The young artist’s way continues with the publication of two short tales, Poppers, Pop Opera 50 mg, Necropop, a ri-elaboration of existing things. This peculiarity, the transformation of a well known subject in a completely new one through elements well impressed in his memory, takes shape in this phase of Luca’s life and will soon become a characterization of his artistic  production (e.g. his collages).

This is the moment when Luca understands that the written word is no more enough for him. He notes words for his future works on some note-books, but now he adds pictures and collages as we know them today. The project of joining words and images on a single page is born: a new book is published and it mirrors this Luca’s transition phase. No more tales but phrases, words joined to images or pieces of them: with a style reminding Filippo Tommaso Marinetti’s work (an Italian poet of the XX century), Luca is now beyond this step and he has found his new dimension, allowing his public to read what he sees.

Everything changes: looking a picture of Nicole Kidman, Luca figures out that he needs a stage on which his subject can play a role. It is the definitive shape of his art: the collage. It is 2008 and Luca’s creativity becomes powerful as an avalanche: he starts to produce indefatigably hundreds of collages.

In 2012 Luca meets Giuliano Federico (of Braga + Federico) who suggests his works to Anna Dellorusso, Vogue Japan editor in chief, who decides to publish three of them on her web site.

A few time after this big opportunity and visibility, the famous and prestigious luxury store Excelsior of Milan wants to welcome its customers exhibiting Luca’s collages through a video-installation on its whole front of 4 floors next to the Dome.  This occasion allows the artist to take a step forward in his art: his works acquire motion thanks to the animation. Static images are no more enough for Luca and so GIF images become the natural transformation of his existing works.

In the meanwhile he’s been noticed from Nicola Formichetti, Diesel art director, who chooses Luca for the Diesel Reboot . Then, Luca’s works are displayed in Venice for 2013 Festival of cinema, in Paris and in New York.

In the same period, the general director of Oslo City, is in Milan for the Design Week, she sees and loves the Excelsior façade displaying Luca’s works and she decides to contact him in order to have his works for the shopping center web image restyling. Then the director goes for having Luca’s works in the Oslo City building, that’s why she asks him for an installation of his works in the whole shopping center and a video-installation in all its galleries.

The Scandinavian experience goes on: the well known Swedish tennis champion Bjorn Borg asks Luca to manage the visual communication of his sport wear brand.

Completely fashinated by his work, the Swedish ask Luca to become the designer for their 2015 limited edition man underwear capsule.