INDEPENDENT ART CONSULTANCY 30 YEARS OF DOCUMENTED PROJECTS
Art Consulting | Company Profile
We have nothing to sell but our experience
Who we are. After lengthy experience gained working in major museums in Italy and Europe, we have applied our historical, critical and scientific knowledge to the creation of art collections. We are now curators of important international collections and involved in the organisation of large projects with public bodies in Europe, Middle East and Central America.
Who we work for. We work for collectors, companies and institutions who wish to use art as a powerful tool of expression and communication
We work for collectors who aspire to harmonious collections, aware that their art collection reflects their culture, style, sensibility. We work for companies looking for artworks for their prestige executive premises or that wish to use art as an instrument of communication. Companies aware that image is a sophisticated and powerful instrument of persuasion. We work with institutions that wish to find in art a fascinating mirror of the cultural and social values which they represent, in a dialogue that enhances the architecture of their internal spaces or is in tune with daring urbanistic projects.
What we offer As Art Consultants, we are able to work alongside collectors, offering them an across-the-board consultancy service, enabling them to move effortlessly through the treacherous maze of the art market and, finally, creating a harmonious collection. We are sensitive to the different cultural environments and able to create solutions of refined communicative impact, carefully tailored to suit specific requirements. With a series of exclusive services specially designed for collectors, companies or institutions, our consultancy work covers all the problem areas involved in artworks: from research, acquisition and commissioning public and private works of art, to creating and curating a major collection, even at museum level. Our thirty years of experience working on international art projects have taught us how to approach and relate to the greatest artists and architects in the world to obtain commissions of site-specific works of art, created to express your philosophy.
Where we are. Art Consulting is founded and directed by Marina Pizziolo (Milan) and Romano Ravasio (Dubai), with team members in Zurich, Beijing, Mumbai and Panama.
Marina Pizziolo & Romano Ravasio Founders and Partners
The art of communicating. Thanks to our consultancy services, free from unwelcome commercial pressures, art can become a fascinating mirror of the values of our Clients. We can find the appropriate solutions with you to interpret your institutional message, in the manner most in tune with your national context, profoundly respecting your cultural and social values.
Our critical and scientific expertise, honed in the museum sphere, our thirty years of experience and our international team make us the ideal partners of institutions that intend to create works of art in the public sphere: indoors or outdoors, as an ideal completion to complex architectural creations or daring urban planning schemes.
What we can do for public spaces. If you are planning to commission or purchase a series of works of art we will help you to find the ideal location, evaluating, for example, how the work will interact visually with the architecture, matters of security, compatibility with the primary function of your spaces and the different perception of the work, by day or by night.
We will advise you on the artistic genre that is most suitable for your communicative purposes, from the more classical, yet created using a contemporary language, to the new interactive possibilities. Outdoors we can work with the artists finding the most suitable materials for your harsh climate, while at the same time respecting the most advanced standards of environmental safety and sustainability. You can assess any maintenance in advance and find in us the partners to plan it over time.
Thanks to our privileged and consolidated relationships, we can procure major artists on the local and international scene and create monuments, sculptures or fountains for outdoors, as well as artworks for internal spaces. All site-specific.
Our guarantees Our company can boast collaborations with important international institutions and government authorities. We are accustomed to interacting with complex bureaucracies and to enabling constant monitoring of the progress of work, in the most transparent manner possible.
We are used to dialoguing with the local cultures, traditions and art codes. Our experience at the highest level in different countries allowed us to achieve a deep knowledge of the traditional forms of the arts as well as the new panorama of international contemporary art.
Experience in developing Art Master Plans. Thanks to our background as directors of museums and our collaboration with important institutions in Europe, Middle East and Asia, we are well-experienced in developing philosophical and procedural Art Master Plans mirroring the values of our Clients. This preliminary study is fundamental to focus the ambitions, the aim and the philosophy of the institution, creating the conceptual grid that will offer us the criteria to select artists, artworks and design objects.
We can interpret your image with professionalism and passion, creating an artistic environment with you that effectively conveys a single message. Your message.
Experience in setting and respecting a budget. Often the most difficult part of the art consultancy process is to orient the Client to set the proper budget relating to their aims. This can be done through an accurate analysis of their ambitions and expectations, in order to avoid disappointments or late reconsiderations.
The art market is highly sophisticated and offers a wide range of solutions. We can advise on how to set the proper budget and manage the entire process of the creation of the art collection within the assigned budget Making the very best of the financial resources at our disposal.
We can advise on how to optimize your budget, mixing artworks by major artists in the pivotal locations with artworks by emerging artists in the secondary ones.
Respect for deadlines. Working on large scale projects in international teams we have developed the skill to respect deadlines, tracking each phase of the work process. We can keep the whole team updated in real time.
creating COLLECTIONS
caring COLLECTIONS
A prestigious project: the art collection of the New York University campus in Abu Dhabi
Art Consulting | Vision
What we can do together
A new concept of luxury. You have conceived a space of the utmost refinement where every detail is expression of your elegance and desire for exclusivity. And yet a detail is missing: the charm of culture, the irreplaceable touch of the work of art. We are not talking just of paintings or sculptures but art that interacts creatively with even the most sophisticated of architectural designs. Masterpieces by the greatest contemporary artists created especially for you.
Our role as Art Consultants is to envision the most fitting and finest artworks for every space: iconic public spaces, exclusive private homes, luxury hotels, cruise ships or company headquarters. Our job is to coordinate the expectations of the client and the technical and aesthetic requirements of architects and designers with the creativity of the world’s finest artists, guiding the complex process that leads to the realisation and installation of totally unique works of art.
Magical dreams. Our years of international experience have given us the skills to imagine the artworks best suited to interpreting a wide range of cultures and lifestyle philosophies. Works of art that will add that touch of extra magic to even the most sumptuous of contexts
The talent for aesthetic design and all-round problem solving that enables us to reach this enchanting result comes about thanks to an ability to predict and deal with a whole series of variables, ranging from the overall visual design to the function of the spaces, and from the choice of materials to the kind of artwork best suited to the context, a knowledge of the safety regulations and the need to successfully hide technical structural details. The best answer is always there. You just have to find it, together.
Site-specific projects with major artists
Go beyond. True luxury is for a select few. A work of art is rarer still: it is for you only. If we are talking about commissioned pieces, then we are talking of works of art conceived and created for you alone. An answer to your communication needs, a way of enhancing your space, an answer to your desires produced for you by one of the world’s foremost artists. To add to what is already exclusive the allure of what is unique. Working on large scale projects and in urban contexts needing site-specific solutions taught us to manage art commissions. This means knowing the different attitudes of the artists, having direct connections with them, deeply understanding their methodologies in order to guide their work: respecting their creative process but managing their timelines.
Imagine. Imagine a floor that comes to life as you walk on it. Imagine a refined sculpture emerging from the wall. Imagine being transported into another dimension by an artwork able to create a space that didn’t exist before, right where you live or work every day. Imagine something that does not exist yet because it will be created exclusively for you by a great Artist.
SITE-SPECIFIC PROJECTS WITH MAJOR ARTISTS
rethinking SPACES
SITE-SPECIFIC PROJECTS WITH MAJOR ARTISTS
discovering FLOORS
lighting ILLUMINATION
SITE-SPECIFIC PROJECTS WITH MAJOR ARTISTS
decorating FACADES
SITE-SPECIFIC PROJECTS WITH MAJOR ARTISTS
dreaming LANDSCAPES
SITE-SPECIFIC PROJECTS WITH MAJOR ARTISTS
experiencing SOUNDS
SITE-SPECIFIC PROJECTS WITH MAJOR ARTISTS
imagine your space pervaded by the sound of the sun or a growing forest.
It is impossible to convey in pictures the emotions the greatest sound artists can create for you
every dream is possible
Marina Pizziolo
Milan
Founder and Director Art Historian and critic, Marina specializes in modern and contemporary art studies, as well as creating and curating major collections
As exhibition curator, she has worked in Moscow for the Academy of Sciences, in Brussels for the European Parliament, in Lugano for the Gallery of Modern Art, in Rome for Castel Sant’Angelo, in Milan for Palazzo Reale, the Triennale and the Mazzotta Foundation, in Florence for Palazzo Strozzi and Palazzo Vecchio, as well as for prestigious international galleries Marina has worked in association with various centers of the Italian Institute of Culture, including New York, Brussels, New Delhi and Beijing
For three years she was director of the Bandera Foundation, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Busto Arsizio, near Milan, which under her guidance implemented a programme of exploration of Italian art In Milan, for ten years she was director of the Museo Treccani, curating among others a series of exhibitions that explored the work of emerging international artists Again, in Milan, she was a member of the Scientific Committee of the Corrente Foundation She founded and runs the Archivi di Corrente [Corrente Archives], a project for the comparative study of the key figures in the Corrente movement She also established the Francesco Pellin Foundation, in Varese, which she then directed for four years
In New Delhi, she worked with the Birla Academy on the project for a new museum
The study of private collections A key aspect of her research is the study of private collections In 1995 the experience she had accrued prompted her, with Romano Ravasio, to found Art Consulting, the first company in Italy to apply the critical scientific rules of museum management to the creation and curating of major collections
Among other things, in 2008 she helped to catalogue the Eni Petroli art collection Today she is curator of important international collections, with their anonymity respected and guaranteed New projects As part of the project to expand Art Consulting internationally, she directs relations with new collectors
Marina is currently involved in managing major projects with public institutions in India and the United Arab Emirates Since 2013 she has been working with the government of Abu Dhabi on a collection of site-specific art for the New York University campus on Saadiyat island For the government of Dubai she has developed various public art projects for Expo 2020 Dubai
Books As an essayist, she is the author of numerous publications
The whole list comprehensive of more than 70 books is available on our website
Dubai
Founder and Director Expert on trends in the art market, Romano specialises in creating and curating major collections
An attentive observer of the profound transformations occurring in the art market over the last twenty years, a tireless traveller, he has accrued great experience in the analysis of artistic trends, further enhanced by continuous interaction with the greatest artists active on the international scene With in-depth knowledge of the problems of forgery among works of art, he was one of the first in Italy to specialise in the restoration of contemporary art, conducting experimental work for major museums Romano curated the collections of the Museo Treccani in Milan for ten years, of the Francesco Pellin Foundation in Varese for four years, and of the Bandera Foundation, in Busto Arsizio, for three years In New Delhi he worked in association with the Birla Academy on the project for a new museum He runs the Archivi di Corrente [Corrente Archives], a project for the comparative study of the key figures in the Corrente movement
The study of private collections After experience gained in the most important European museums, in 1995 with Marina Pizziolo he founded Art Consulting, the first company in Italy to apply the critical scientific rules of museum management to the creation and curating of major collections Many of these Romano has created from scratch and they have been the focus of exhibitions and monographic works or have even become art foundations and private museums in their own right
Among other things, in 2008 he helped to catalogue the Eni Petroli art collection The exhibitions and monographic publications he has curated are listed in our website
His scientific experience accrued in the museum environment enables him to solve any problems involved in creating and administering a major art collection, organising the hanging, maintenance and restoration work, designing the archives and monitored warehouses and conducting accurate screening in order to weed out forgeries
Thanks to his experience in analysing art market trends and studying artistic currents on the rise, especially in emerging countries, Romano is responsible for acquiring works for prestigious international collections
New projects As part of the project to expand Art Consulting internationally, he studies the emerging markets He is currently involved in managing major projects with public institutions in India and the United Arab Emirates Since 2013 he has been working with the government of Abu Dhabi on a collection of site-specific art for the New York University campus on Saadiyat island For the government of Dubai he has developed various public art projects for Expo 2020 Dubai
Romano Ravasio
International team
Alessia Giglio Zanetti
Art historian
Specialist in modern European art, she was responsible for collections and coordinator of exhibition projects for the museums of the City of Lugano She curates contemporary art exhibitions and writes critical essays, collaborating with public and private foundations in Switzerland and Italy. She lives in Zurich.
Manuela Lietti
Art critic
Specialist in contemporary Chinese art Active as curator of public art projects, exhibitions, and private and institutional collections, she has worked for the Chinese Ministry of Culture and the Venice Biennale She contributes to numerous international art journals She lives in Beijing
Farah Siddiqui
Art critic
Specialist in contemporary Indian, Pakistani, and Iranian art. She has curated institutional exhibitions and cultural projects for Forbes India Art Award, Be Open Foundation, and Piramal Art Foundation Contributor to art publications and market analyst for CNBC Asia and Bloomberg India She lives in Mumbai
Maylin Pérez Parrado
Art historian
Specialist in contemporary Central American art, with particular focus on Panama and Cuba. She curates projects and exhibitions that support cultural development through art and design. In 2018, she established the Fototeca de Panamá foundation to study and promote local and international photography She lives in Panama
Specialized experts
Agostino Favaro
Archaeologist
Specialist in archaeological excavation techniques and valorization of materials and sites He was founder and president of SAP Società Archeologica, a leading company addressing the complexity of archaeological excavation for the construction of major infrastructure. He has participated in hundreds of excavation campaigns since 1994.
Sergio Favretto
Lawyer - Art and law
Specialist in legal issues related to artistic production, counterfeiting, and authentication of artworks He handles litigation, high-risk transactions, estates, and attribution disputes Author on criminal art law topics, he served as honorary criminal judge
Laura Maggioni
EdiXion Project Manager
She coordinates EdiXion’s editorial production, from planning to the creation of art publications for museums, collections, and institutional projects. She manages relationships with authors, curators, and cultural institutions, ensuring scientific quality and compliance with deadlines Twenty years of experience with international art publishers
Francesca Benetti
EdiXion Art Director
Responsible for artistic direction and visual identity of EdiXion publications. She oversees layout, pagination, and graphic solutions for catalogues, monographs, and enhanced books. Specialized in publishing for cultural heritage and archaeology, with a focus on accessibility and European editorial standards
