Manferdini the Magnificent Discover the maximalist, vibrant art of Elena Manferdini
Photography by Judy Starkman
Los Angeles-based creative Elena Manferdini combines a maximalist aesthetic with architectural lines to create immersive art installations that fuse dense patterns, vibrant colours and decadent textures. The result? A magnificent visual and spatial narrative that’s a delight to discover.
Principal of Atelier Manferdini – her eponymous design studio that specialises in the cutting edge of computer-aided design of exotic forms – Manferdini draws from personal experience across a series of artistic practices to create her work. “From the beginning, crossing the fields of engineering, art and architecture was almost inevitable,” she says. “After ten years of training as an engineer and architect, I approached the problem of a canvas in space as it would be cladding for a building. The most important knowledge that helped me through the artistic process is the skill of form making and visualisation.”
“I approach the problem of a canvas in space as it would be cladding for a building.”
“I would prefer to think of art as a quality that works in any discipline can achieve; possessing the power to discover, and awakening what it feels like to be in and belong to this world. Before an encounter with such a work of art, these sensations often feel confusing, even alienating, yet after the encounter, we discover not only that they are real, normal, and often wondrous, even valuable, but more importantly that we share them with others - an intimacy among strangers that is the essence of being human,” she says.
“Art creates an intimacy among strangers that is the essence of being human.”
Rather than drawing influence from external sources, Manferdini’s inspiration comes from the, “continuous sophistication of geometrical effects I have always been obsessed with.” Starting with computer-based form generating sessions which characterise the early stages of her process, her work is, “conceived in the grey Cartesian space of a software program; some collections revolve around the use of scripted patters, other of scanned objects.”
Explore Manferdini’s maximalist, feminine art installations in stores now.