Antonella Mellini

Antonella Mellini – Menhir

A new chapter of the Menhir Project within Food Design Stories – Aria, for Milano Design Week.

MILAN | APRIL 20-26, 2026

Superstudio Village | Via P. Negrotto 59, Milan

Milan, April 2026 – On the occasion of her third participation in the Fuorisalone within the Food Design Stories platform, the artist Antonella Mellini presents a new chapter of the Menhir Project series.

The work, a monumental sculpture with a monochrome surface, functions as a point of energetic accumulation—a "lung" capable of redefining the spatial dynamics of its surroundings. Mellini’s research focuses on the concept of air as a universal conductor: an invisible medium through which sound and breath are transformed into matter.

In this iteration of the project, the polished skin of the Menhir acts as a sensitive membrane that guards a stratification of signs and verbal frequencies beneath its surface. The work is born from a close dialogue between innovative industrial materials and pictorial tradition: Mellini poetically reinterprets XPS (extruded polystyrene), diverting it from its original technical function to transform it into a conductor of subtle energy.

The sculpture is coated with high-quality enamels, creating a candid and smooth surface beneath which positive words, imprinted by the artist, remain concealed. These traces of an interior language persist as latent memory, emitting vibrational frequencies that travel through the air to reach the observer's perception. The work thus resolves the dichotomy between the physical volume of the sculpture and the immateriality of its energetic field, merging statuary presence with conceptual vibration.

The off-white hue chosen for this edition is a declaration of lightness and luminous reflection, intended to encourage a contemplative pause where the language of contemporary design is transformed into a profound investigation of awareness. Like ancient contemporary megaliths, Mellini’s works weave a global energetic network: an invisible thread connecting places and people within a shared grid, where art becomes a sensory experience and a living organism.

EXHIBITION DETAILS:

Title of the work: Menhir

Event: Food Design Stories | Aria — Superstudio Playground

Dates: April 20 – 25, 2026

Hours: 11:00 AM – 11:00 PM

Date: April 26, 2026

Hours: 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Location: Superstudio Village, Via P. Negrotto 59, Milan - Bovisa

Access: Free pass required upon registration.

Press Contacts:

antonella.mellini@gmail.com

antonellamellini.com

Instagram: @antoart73

Lema & Antonella Mellini: Menhir Series

A collaboration of excellence at Salone del Mobile.Milano 2026.

MILAN | APRIL 20-26, 2026

Fiera Rho | Hall 11 — Stand B11 - C20

Milan, April 2026 – On the occasion of Salone del Mobile.Milano, the prestigious Lema Group hosts a selection of works from Antonella Mellini’s Menhir Project within its exhibition space. Three large Menhirs in an anthracite finish welcome visitors at the entrance of the stand, defining a perimeter of strong visual impact and material vibration. Within the exhibition layout, four additional white pieces dialogue with the volumes of shelving and furnishings, highlighting the versatility of the Menhirs as elements capable of inhabiting both domestic and pure design spaces. This synergy underscores the nature of the Menhir, a piece of art capable of elevating the living experience through its energetic charge and minimalist rigor.

Antonella Mellini | BUTTER

Solo Exhibition investigating form and sensory perception.

MILAN | APRIL 29, 2026

Manuel Zoia Gallery | Via Maroncelli 7, Milan

Milan, April 2026 – Manuel Zoia Gallery is pleased to present BUTTER, a site-specific solo exhibition by the artist Antonella Mellini. The exhibition showcases a new body of work that delves into the artist’s investigation of the nature of matter and its capacity for symbolic transformation.

The exhibition originates from a visceral, oneiric intuition that challenges the traditional rigidity of sculptural substance. In this series of works, the chromatic palette of the Menhir shifts toward organic tones of cream and pale yellow, utilizing the essence of butter as a metaphor for material and energetic transmutation.

The show explores the threshold where matter, stimulated by human interaction, transitions from a solid state to one of softness and receptivity. "I awoke with the idea of butter... matter that warms and becomes soft, much like the energy I transmit through m works," states Mellini. "BUTTER is a manifestation perceived by the eye and felt by the hands."

The spatial layout is articulated through distinct sculptural clusters that redefine the gallery environment. Upon entry, the viewer encounters the monumental off-white Menhir, juxtaposed with everyday vessels that underscore the generative process. The inquiry continues with a series of low-profile, pale-yellow sculptures, leading into a secondary chamber dedicated to elevated forms that investigate the verticality of organic hues.

The use of the bucket as a container for this primary substance serves as a profound ready-made gesture, highlighting the contrast between material coldness and the inherent warmth of the subconscious.

BUTTER reaffirms Mellini’s standing as a "pure artist"—a definition recently underscored by Stefano Mazzatorta in the scientific-culture journal TITOLO—whose practice navigates the intersection of formal rigor, the silence of resistance, and the fluidity of matter.

EXHIBITION DETAILS:

Title: BUTTER

Artist: Antonella Mellini

Format: Solo Exhibition

Date: Wednesday, April 29, 2026

Location: Manuel Zoia Gallery, Via Maroncelli 7, Milan

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