Andrea Benetti, born in Bologna in 1964, is a multifaceted visual artist who works across multiple expressive languages, including painting, photography, drawing, installations and video art. His work stands out for its original reinterpretation of the deep connection between contemporary art and its ancestral origins, particularly those from prehistoric times. In 2006, he conceived the Manifesto dell’Arte Neorupestre (Manifesto of Neorupestre Art), officially presented at the 53rd Venice Biennale in 2009, at Ca’ Foscari University. In this Manifesto, Benetti proposes a theoretical and visual reflection that calls for an artistic “rebirth”, ideally starting from the earliest forms of human expression in prehistory, reinterpreted in a contemporary key through an original and innovative symbolic language.

His works, characterised by an evocative use of natural pigments, spices, oxides and stylisations of anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figures, as well as abstract geometries, form a conceptual bridge between the genesis of art and its contemporary nature. This approach has allowed him to develop a unique visual poetics, capable of dialoguing with the collective memory of humanity and, at the same time, with the demands of art in the Third Millennium.

Andrea Benetti has exhibited in prestigious international venues, and his works have become part of important museum and institutional collections, including those of the United Nations (New York), the Vatican State, the Quirinale Palace and the Italian Chamber of Deputies. His work has been the subject of academic study and research by various Italian universities, such as those of Bologna, Ferrara, Bergamo and Salento (Lecce), as well as collaborations with other prominent academic institutions, including the universities of Bari, Roma Tre, Messina, Venice and the prestigious Johns Hopkins University.

Recognition of his artistic stature is also reflected in the presence of his biography in authoritative encyclopaedias such as Treccani, De Agostini and WikiArt, and in forty-five languages on Wikipedia, testifying to his established international reputation. In 2020, he was awarded the “Nettuno d’Oro” prize by the city of Bologna, in tribute to the value and originality of his contribution to contemporary culture and his establishment as a leading figure on the current art scene.