Stefano Arienti was born in Asola, in the province of Mantua, in 1961. After graduating with a degree in agriculture, he made his debut as an artist in the mid-1980s in Milan, where he continues to live and work.
Throughout his career, he has taken part in numerous major international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (Aperto, 1990), the Istanbul Biennial (1992), Cocido y Crudo at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid (1994), the XII Rome Quadriennale (1996), Fatto in Italia at the Centre d’Art Contemporain in Geneva and the ICA in London (1997), the Gwangju Biennale (2008), Italics at Palazzo Grassi in Venice and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago (2008), Decorum at the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris and the Power Station of Art in Shanghai (2013–2014), Ennesima at the Triennale di Milano (2015), Wall to Wall at MOCA Cleveland (2016), and The Sculpture Park at Jaigarh Fort in Jaipur (2025).
He has also held major solo exhibitions at prominent venues such as MAXXI in Rome (2004), Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo in Turin (2005), the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston (2007, 2012), Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice (2008), MAMbo in Bologna (alongside Cesare Pietroiusti, 2008), Palazzo Ducale in Mantua (2009), Museion in Bolzano (with Massimo Bartolini, 2011), Palazzo Te in Mantua (2016), Galleria Civica di Modena (2017), Villa Croce Contemporary Art Museum in Genoa (2017), Chiostri di Sant’Eustorgio in Milan (2019), Galleria Civica di Trento (2021), The Drawing Hall in Grassobbio (2022), the Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea in San Marino (2022), Villa Carlotta in Tremezzina (2023), and Palazzo Marchi in Parma (2025).
His work with FPAC includes:
Come casa (group exhibition), 2024
Milano ’90 (group exhibition), 2022
Threesome #6 (group exhibition), 2019
Carte meridiane, 2019
Mano d’oro, 2016
Le declinazioni della pittura (group exhibition), 2015
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (group exhibition), 2013
Cu avi lingua passa u mari (group exhibition), 2012