ENZO MARI

Enzo Mari (1932, Novara) is a noted post-Modernist artist, writer, and product and furniture designer.

He studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan from 1952 to 1956, and later (1963 – 1966) taught at the Humanitarian School of Milan, where he did extensive research in the areas of theory of design, graphics, and fittings. He began his career in industrial design working with numerous industries in a variety of different sectors (including graphics, publishing and exhibition installations). His particular focus is on the functional aspects of products. Mari’s work is just as concerned with social questions as with the aesthetic issues.

His work ranges from design to painting, from graphics to installation design. For Mari, the design is political, and is only design if it communicates knowledge.

Enzo Mari is one of the theorists of the New Tendencies movement. The New Tendencies are an event held in Zagreb from 1961 to 1973. The organisers of New Tendencies were art critics gathered around the Zagreb Gallery of Contemporary Art: Božo Bek (gallery director), Boris Kelemen (gallery curator), Matko Meštrović (a member of the Zagreb group Gorgona), Radoslav Putar (a member of the Zagreb group Gorgona), Dimitrije Bašičević Mangelos (a member of the Zagreb group Gorgona) and painters: Ivan Picelj (a member of the Zagreb group EXAT 51) and Almir Mavignier (Brazilian-German artist).