Galleria Paola Colombari from Milan, Italy presents IronicaMente, a compelling solo show by multidisciplinary artist Marilù S. Manzini, as part of the XMAS Maroncelli District 2025 program. Curated by Alessandra Bertolè Viale, the exhibition runs from December 3, 2025, to January 27, 2026, in the gallery spaces on Via Maroncelli. The lineup features a core body of works marked by slender narrative prose and a distinctly ironic tone, accompanied by the artist’s latest book, La memoria del cuore, published by Piemme Mondadori.
Manzini is a provocateur who moves fluidly between reality and imagination, navigating multiple artistic languages. Her practice encompasses painting, photography, sculpture, as well as writing and film direction, producing a subversive lexicon that harks back to Dada and invites a fresh reading of what already exists. IronicaMente foregrounds works that blend narrative finesse with a sharp, irony-laden critique of contemporary life.
The works presented in IronicaMente unfold like reverse fairy tales: disorienting, humorous, and provocative. The curator notes that fairy tales often teach children that monsters can be defeated and fears can be faced; Manzini flips this script, suggesting that our fears reside within us. The artist digs into the psyche to surface these insecurities and remind us not to be ashamed of them. As Victor Hugo famously asserted, “It is from irony that freedom begins.” Manzini embodies this ethos, traversing dream and reality with a restless, multidisciplinary mobility that carries transgressive undertones.
Among the works on display are photographs born from Manzini’s own ready-made sculptures. Notable pieces include Il linguaggio silenzioso delle anime gemelle (2025), which contemplates choosing to share life with another person; the table sculpture Marylin Monroe – Quando la moglie è in vacanza (2013), where a sexy fairy tale intrudes into everyday life; and the large-scale paintings series Spille da balia (2019), which, beyond marking a new drawing technique, puncture the canvas to endow the portraits with new meanings. Manzini also merges Grecian myth with pop culture, addressing universal themes of human life while engaging with current events. Another emblematic work is Nudo in scatola (2022), a series of photographs depicting a woman in various poses enclosed in a box, symbolizing the obsessive pursuit of aesthetic perfection reduced to object, boxed away as one would a garment or a pair of shoes. The presentation also features The Kiss (2019), a symbolic gesture of love—shaped as a kiss—enclosed within a cage to suggest a love that can become a prison.
Through IronicaMente, Marilù S. Manzini offers a portrait of reality while signaling that, at times, the truth can resemble a reverse fairy tale: when shadows seem to lurk under the bed, a little light can push them back.
Marilù S. Manzini: Biography
Born in Modena and now based in Milan for more than two decades, Manzini began her career as a novelist, with works published by Rizzoli, Salani, and Piemme Mondadori. She has since embraced painting, photography, and video as her principal media. In 2020 she directed a feature film, Diary of Love, which has since been distributed in Canada, the United States, and South Korea. Her solo exhibitions include Vanitas Vanitas at La Vanità AM Note Atelier Gallery and Galleria Viscardi (Riccione, 2024); Super Eroi Contaminati at Galleria Paola Colombari, Basilica di San Celso (Milano, 2021); Eclettica at Malinverno Art Gallery (New York, 2019). She has participated in notable group shows such as the MIA Photo Fair (XIV and XIII editions) at Galleria Paola Colombari’s stand, including The Emerging at Spectrum Miami and Art Basel Miami (2019).
Further information about her body of work can be found on her website: www.marilumanzini.com
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