Born in Locarno in September 28, Nag Arnoldi was initially educated in Lugano, frequenting the studios of Foglia, Chiattone, Cotti and Boldini; he then moved to Murano, near the Mazzera glasswork, where he studied glass-making techniques. He began his artistic career by dedicating himself to the processing of ceramic and glass. He soon abandoned these materials in favor of painting and sculpture, where intensity of exposition and the drama of his poetry found more suitable and full expression. From the outset, the fantastic imaginary world of Nag Arnoldi was represented in a series of recurrent subjects, which rotated around several strong nucleus, which he has carried forward through the years with surprising consistency and continuity: the world of the circus, masks, with harlequins, acrobats and clowns; man and his story, but also his mystery and myths, with warriors, bellicose figure and lancers, horses and horsemen, life and death; and last but not least, the "sacred", either its religious and Christian representation or its more fleeting and arcane enigmatic aspect, as the perception of an obscure presence, indivisible from man and Nature. The profound unity and dramatic nature of Nag Arnoldiʼs work, on the thematic level, finds its natural expression in the formal continuity of sculpture - which is always monumental somehow - based on the dialectic and contrasting tension between the free expansion of forms in the space and their sudden contraction, between the smoothness of flat surfaces and the roughness of the material, between sharp or cutting surfaces, in counterpoint with the flow of curving, free and undulating lines. He has given many exhibition, both in Switzerland and abroad, in concomitance with his repeated travels and stays in European countries and Latin America; among his most important exhibitions, the ones in Florence (Palazzo Strozzi), Rome (Palazzo Barberini), Mantua (Palazzo Ducale), Orvieto (The Cloister of St. John), Verona (Palazzi Scaligeri), Ferrara (Palazzo die Diamanti), Lugano-Cureglia (Biennal Outdoor Sculpture Show), the Island of Mainau (park and castle), Lugano (Saroli Park and the Banca del Gottardo), Lausanne (the Olympic Museum), Locarno (sculpture in the City), Saint Petersburg (The Repin Academy) and Bellinzona (Castelgrande) are all worthy of mention.
Exhibitions
1955 Festival Internazionale della Ceramica / Cannes
1957 "Esposizione dell'Autoritratto"Galleria del Grattacielo / Milano
1958 Galleria Elite / Lugano
1960 Galleria "21" / Zurigo
1962 Galleria St. Germain / Ginevra
1962 Galleria Farini / Bologna
1964 Museo National de arte Moderno, Palacio de Bellas Artes / Mexico City
1964 Galleria Excelsior, Paseo de la Reforma / Mexico City
1964 Galleria Artes de Collecionistas / Mexico City
1964 Paolillo Art Gallery, Madison Avenue / New York
1965 Sherman Clay Gallery / San Francisco
1966 Galleria Staffelei / Zurigo
1966 Weintraub Gallery, Lexington Avenue / New York
1966 International Art Exibit / Laguna Beach, California
1967 Phyllis Lucas Gallery / New York
1967 The Gallery / Palm Springs, California
1969 Union Bank / Beverly Hills
1969 Zachary Walter Gallery / Los Angeles
1973 Galleria L' Approdo / Torino
1976 Galleria Arpass / Lugano
1978 Galleria San Luca / Verona
1978 Galleria L'Indicatore / Roma
1978 Galleria Margherita / Taranto
1979 Stadt Theater / Basilea
1981 Palazzo Strozzi / Firenze
1982 Palazzo della Gran Guarda / Verona
1984 Palazzo Barberini / Roma
1986 Chiostro di San Giorgetto / Verona
1986 Haus des Sportes / Berna
1986 Galleria Colomba / Lugano
2009 "Il Sacro nell'Arte" Galleria d'arte Giorgio Ghelfi / Verona
2010 "I cavalli di Nag Arnoldi" 6° Senso Art Gallery / Roma
2011 Sculture 1980-2010, Palazzo Reale / Milano