The Fragile Network of Italian Galleries and the Foreign-Oriented Collecting Culture

In your experience, which contemporary Italian artists (living) have achieved the greatest visibility abroad, and thanks to which factors (e.g., galleries, biennials, exhibitions, curators, etc.)?
Maurizio Cattelan, Monica Bonvicini, Rosa Barba. All three have chosen to live abroad, and that alone is already a strong indicator.

In your opinion, which contemporary Italian artists have not yet achieved adequate visibility in relation to their artistic value, and what are the causes of this lack of recognition?
Roberto Cuoghi, Stefano Arienti, Liliana Moro, Elisabetta Di Maggio, Maria Morganti among those around sixty years old; many others among the younger generation, including artists currently in a promising phase of their careers, such as Giorgio Andreotta Calò, Diego Marcon, Elena Mazzi, who are now deciding between staying in Italy or going abroad. Recognition is difficult due to the weakness of Italian galleries in fully supporting an artist, including their limited network of relationships with curators and museums, as well as their limited ability to build stable alliances with foreign galleries.

In your experience, what are the steps and elements that favor the international career of a contemporary Italian artist? And where is the Italian system lacking in supporting contemporary Italian art on the international art scene?
The solidity of the work is fundamental—something not easy for an Italian artist, because opportunities to exhibit in museums and galleries are neither frequent enough nor sufficiently challenging.
As a result, the artist rarely creates for themselves or thinks on a grand scale, developing their language to its fullest potential.
Secondly, the limited financial strength of Italian galleries is a disadvantage. Inevitably, they focus on foreign or already established and historicized artists in order to stay afloat in a context where foreign galleries often act as giants compared to our local "Goliaths."
Finally, collecting in Italy is particularly foreign-oriented. This is evident in the difficulty Italian artists have in seeing their market value rise. Those who approach collecting as an investment are rewarded only when they focus on artists represented by at least two galleries—one Italian and one foreign—both chosen from among the established ones. In order for an artist to have stable or rising prices, they generally need the backing of three galleries, two of which should be foreign, with at least one based in the UK, Germany, or the United States. This is not a rule, but it is a recurring pattern that has been studied quite extensively and is confirmed even through a simple observation of five-year trends. Moreover, Italian artists rarely form groups. Yet, it is essential for the success of an artist to be able to rely on a circle of peers—artists and curators from the same generation who share common interests. Even if they challenge one another, they can create a collective force of pressure and mutual empowerment. This has not existed since the days of Arte Povera, and even the Transavanguardia, over the long term, was not truly a cohesive group. It’s not about creating movements with manifestos and a leading critic, but rather about being able to work in a climate of intense complicity and communication. As for the factors that support an artist’s career, I could say things I’ve already written in books and articles, but these are, in my view, the pillars. The final one—the one more necessary than any other—is a significant amount of personal obsession, the kind that drives one to overcome sacrifices such as the loss of free time and, potentially, the decision to live far from home, one's city, and often one’s country.