Primo Marella Gallery is delighted to present Prolegomeni dell’uomo-albero (Prolegomena of the Tree-Man), a solo exhibition by Agostino Arrivabene, opening on 12 November 2026 at the gallery’s Milan venue.
The exhibition explores the profound relationship between the human body and the vegetal world, drawing on anatomical references, mythology and art-historical traditions. Through a new body of paintings and installations, Arrivabene investigates trauma as a transformative force shared by both humans and plants. At the heart of this reflection lies the image of the knot: a point of rupture where growth encounters resistance, changes direction and gives rise to new forms. Wounds thus become traces of transformation, revealing how both the human and natural worlds are capable of adapting, regenerating and evolving.
The exhibition unfolds across the gallery’s two main rooms and the Project Room. Conceived by the artist himself, the installation maintains a close continuity with the exhibition’s central themes and conceptual framework. In the first room, the typically horizontal, subterranean growth of roots is translated into a site-specific installation. Freely inspired by a seventeenth-century anatomical illustration depicting the vascular system of a foetus, Arrivabene has created a monumental mural measuring over ten metres in length, accompanied by seven paintings drawing on the iconography of the Tree of the Seven Deadly Sins.
The Project Room features painted still lifes paying homage to Velvet Bruegel, alongside votive offerings dedicated to Hades and Persephone, the deities who preside over the artist’s personal mythology. The exhibition also includes previously unseen works and archival materials from Arrivabene’s personal Wunderkammer, presented to the public for the first time.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue featuring a text by the artist and an afterword by Giovanni Gardini, Director of the Lercaro Museum in Bologna.
Discover more and visit the dedicated exhibition page.
