Independent Collectors

MATTEO NOVARESE

Collector of the SOF:ART Collection

Matteo Novarese infront of Camilla Alberti, ‘Unbinding Creatures, Organism 26’ 2021, Jimmy Milani ‘Untitled (my bookshelf)’ 2022. Photographer Guido Calamosca, Courtesy SOF:ART.
Matteo Novarese infront of Camilla Alberti, ‘Unbinding Creatures, Organism 26’ 2021, Jimmy Milani ‘Untitled (my bookshelf)’ 2022. Photographer Guido Calamosca, Courtesy SOF:ART.

After two very intense years, ten shows and more than forty artists presented at SOF:ART, they’ve decided to expand their view and let their ambitions become a reality.
A new location in Corte Isolani 1/c, Bologna, has been contaminated with Contemporary Art. The new space with a strong architectural soul from the middle age is the new stage, where they recently opened the first show “Feels like home” with eleven magnificent Italian and international artists touching most of the media present in the collection: installation, paintings, collages and sculptures.

The journey through their contemporary art collection continues, but new scenarios are blooming.

Here you can find an interview with Matteo Novarese, who is the collector behind SOF:ART. He has a great passion for contemporary art and the desire to share it with the world.

Why do you collect?

I do collect because I love art. This sounds like a very trivial answer, but it is the pure truth.
When you are immersed in a world that enriches you as a person humanly and culturally, in social relationships, opening your mind to stimulating and entertaining horizons, well how can you not love that?

Regarding your collection, what role/value holds the first piece of artwork you purchased?

The first artwork represents my whole self, for so many reasons. First, because with a background like mine that was completely out of the art world, it gave me a way to create a collection starting by myself following my own taste and vision. The street art movement involved me within this magnificent world, I began to travel to see the works on all the walls of the most important European capitals, I identified the artist in Paris who had impressed me the most, and owning one of his works made me finally feel like a collector.

How has collecting changed your approach to art?

Well, since my first purchase I change my approach to art. Before was something beautiful that I could enjoy time to time, when I was traveling, going into museum etc. After my first purchase I realized that I could appreciate a work of art or already thinking more broadly a collection of my own every day of my life. This thought has pushed me as far as I have gone and is the flame that gives me an increasingly ambitious perspective for the collection, which now has nearly 500 works and two private exhibition spaces.

What is your biggest hope for the future of art and collecting?

My biggest hope is to have fine academy students being more involved into the art system at the very beginning of their career.
I think that the collector can play an important role for their growth, and could become a clue figure for them, providing some ‘insider’ advices in order to let them have a better understanding of the market, how to catch the attention of the galleries and how to select them.

In what way will digitization enrich collecting (digital and physical) art?

Honestly my view over the digital art is not really positive (if for digital art we intend NFT’s world).
I think that digitalization will be a great support to manage the collection for example: right now there are a lot of super nice programs allowing to have a very useful archive and a wide view of the collection in a click.

What was the most unexpected private art collection that you encountered?

The most unexpected private Art collection is without a doubt the Rachofsky collection in Dallas, that I recently visited.

Tamo Jugeli ‘Untitled’ 2022, Vivian Greven ‘Vira VII’ 2022, Kelly Akashi ‘Life forms’ 2022. Photographer Guido Calamosca, Courtesy SOF:ART.
Tamo Jugeli ‘Untitled’ 2022, Vivian Greven ‘Vira VII’ 2022, Kelly Akashi ‘Life forms’ 2022. Photographer Guido Calamosca, Courtesy SOF:ART.

Italy (35)

Palazzo Daniele

Minimalism meets majesty at Palazzo Daniele where monastic décor exaggerates the grandeur of ceiling frescoes and standalone art works

Fondazione Brodbeck

Contemporary art in the shadow of a volcano

Collezione De Iorio

Beauty & infirmity – Radiologist Mauro De Iorio has a unique understanding of the human body

Collezione Taurisano

Initiated by Paolo Taurisano in the 1970s, this collection now flourishes thanks to his son Francesco and daughter-in-law Sveva D’Antonio

Collezione Maramotti

Interview with the senior coordinator Sara Piccinini

Rossini Art Site — Sculpture Park

Art park that fuses sculpture, architecture, and landscape

The Great Women Artists Residency

Palazzo Monti presents the third annual Great Women Artists Residency

Palazzo Monti

Take a look inside the both historic and fresh beauty of Palazzo Monti in Brescia, who we welcome as new to IC.

Mollino/Insides

The current temporary exhibition at Collezione Maramotti is in collaboration with Turin’s Museo Casa Mollino and has been organised on the occasion of this years Fotografia Europea.

Two Thoughts with Svenja Deininger

See inside the stunning light filled & open industrial spaces showcasing painting & various projects in the corridors of the Max Mara factory.

The Bisazza Foundation

The collection which honours the appreciation for design and architecture.

Giorgio Fasol

An interview with one of Italy’s most prominent collectors of contemporary art.

Go With the Gut

Collector couple Bruna Girodengo and Matteo Viglietta both share a passion – an unquenchable thirst to learn about collecting art.

Two Ideas of Beauty

In many ways the Collezione De Iorio, like the ancient Roman god Janus, is two-faced.

Foto Project Book

Italian collector Guido Galimberti is someone who sees the world in multiples.

Because Of Many (Taurisano) Suns

View inside this private home and Naples-based collection, where young and active collecting couple Francesco and Sveva Taurisano live.

The Videoinsight® Method Part II

The collection that selects contemporary art containing high psychological impact.

Castello di Ama per l’Arte Contemporanea

The result of the passion of four Roman families.

Dancing with Myself

The Museum Folkwang exhibited works from Venice’s Pinault Collection.

Non-Aligned Modernity

Eastern-European Art from the Marinko Sudac Collection.

Three Explorations To Be Repeated As Necessary…

Contemporary art and mythology amongst uncovered ancient Greek ruins in the converted Palazzo basement.

Fondazione Morra Greco

This Neapolitan palace houses the collection of dentist Maurizio Morra Greco.

World Art Collection

Dores Sacquegna shares a selection of works from her personal collection.

‘La Pelle’ and ‘Luogo e Segni’ – Pinault Collection

Venice’s Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana see the exhibitions ‘La Pelle’ and ‘Luogo e Segni’ for 2019.

Fondazione Opera

Guido Galimberti Online Exhibition

Nature is Equilibrium

Installation views from the Fondazione Merz

Collezione Giuseppe Iannaccone

Searching for strong feelings of humanity within paintings, sculptures and drawings.

The (Italian) Factory

With his collection, Maramotti intended to mirror the evolution of the most advanced artistic thinking of his time and as a result has created one of the most exciting private collections in Italy.

Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo

Italian art collector Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo talks to Agnese Čivle about spontaneous art buying, the difference between collecting names and works and her Turin-based art foundation.

A Portrait of My Soul

For over two decades Vittorio Gaddi has been focusing on collecting international contemporary art as well as supporting emerging art and artists.

The Videoinsight® Method Part I

Ten years ago, Turin based art collector and psychotherapist Rebecca Russo, began showing art to her patients

Sensus Collection

Located on the first two floors of a 1960s building in Florence you’ll find the Sensus Collection.

Antonio Dalle Nogare

On the occasion of this year’s Venice Biennale Independent Collectors spoke with collector Antonio Dalle Nogare from the ADN Collection about which pavilions and specific art pieces stood out for him and why.

CARMELO GRACI

“Buying ‘difficult’ works gives shape to a collection, which otherwise would be standardized on all the others.”