Maria Rosa Benso began painting at a very young age, attending the studio of Margherita Carena,a former student of Felice Casorati’s at the Turin Academy of Fine Arts.She has, over the years, persistently deepened and transformed her measured and meditative pictorial research, though her academic and professional paths initially led her in a different direction.After studying Foreign Languages and Literatures at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice and the University of Turin, where she graduated in English Language and Literature, she obtained a specialisation in American Literature at the University of Urbino.
In the literary field, she participated in seminars and lectures on Shakespearean theatre with Giorgio Melchiori, Sergio Perosa, and Giorgio Strehler. In the linguistic and semiotic field, she attended Umberto Eco’s seminars at the International Centre for Semiotic Studies in Urbino and specialized courses at the University of Edinburgh.
This background led her to work professionally for two decades in the field of applied linguistics, specifically in the design and management of specialized professional language training centres at international istitutions and organisations. Within this framework, she established contacts with research centres of excellence such as Manchester Business School and the University of Edinburgh (United Kingdom), Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Stanford University (United States), as well as Beijing University in China (Fourth World Conference on Continuing Engineering Education, 1989).
Her numerous professional travels and stays in European countries, the United States, China, and South America, however, enabled her to gain deeper insight into the diverse socio-cultural aspects ofdifferent populations while also studying the creative expressions of various traditions, from Action Painting to Arabic and Chinese art and calligraphy, further supported by her knowledge of these two languages.
In particular, through closer contact with artists and curators at MoMA, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, she expanded her artistic training with courses on the New York School and on collage and assemblage techniques.
Her first solo exhibition, Enigma Variations, was held in 2010 at the Piemonte Artistico Culturale in Turin, under the patronage of the Piedmont Region.
This exhibition marked the beginning of a series of shows reflecting an artistic journey in which sign, materials, and abstract pages play a central role: Spazi di Confine at the Fulvio Croce Foundation, Palazzo Capris di Cigliè, Turin (2012); Haiku: La Poetica del Segno at the National University Library, Turin (2018); and Denominatore Comune, a four-artist exhibition featuring Nino Aimone, Piero Ruggeri and Giorgio Stella at Palazzo Lomellini, Carmagnola (Turin) in 2022.
Her career also includes participation in the Vallebona Art Biennale (2014), in a group exhibition at the Teatro dei Dioscuri del Quirinale in Rome (2015), in the international exhibitions Telephone (2015 and 2020) organised by Satellite Collective, Seattle (USA).
Moreover, she participated in a slideshow exhibition of MOMA students’ works at MoMA in New York(2020), and in several exhibitions held by APA (Associazione Piemontese Arte), including Pitturae Scultura a Confronto (2017), Presenze (2018), and Dialogo con i Maestri (2020).
In 2024, she took part in Liquid Sky, a group exhibition at the Galata – Museo del Mare in Genoa. Alongside her exhibitions, she has also contributed to the Orolontano association, founded by Alfonso Filieri (Rome), which presented her artist books inspired by The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot at the Fondazione Monti Uniti (Foggia), the Giacomo Manzù Museum(Ardea, RM), the National Library of Rome, and the Gino Baratta Library in Mantova.
Maria Rosa Benso is a member of the Post-Millennium New York School (PMNYS), an association of independent artists connected to MoMA, as well as of Piemonte Artistico Culturale and Ponte per l’Arte in Turin. She was also a member of the Circolo degli Artisti in Turin.
Essays, reviews, and testimonials: A. Audoli, M. Bernardi, W. Beck, A. Cavallera, M. Centini, A. Davies, K. Lanfranco, G.G. Massara, E. Massone, A. Mistrangelo, M. Paglieri.
Piemonte Artistico Culturale, Torino
Ponte per l’Arte, Torino.
PMNYS, Post Millennium New York School, an international group of independent artists connected to MoMA, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA.
Maria Rosa Benso’s works are in private and public collections in Italy, France, Great Britain and the USA.
