| From Saturday, November 22 to Sunday, November 30, 2025, the Ramo Collection presents the fifth edition of Milano Drawing Week, a 10-stop itinerary dedicated to drawing, organized in collaboration with and under the patronage of the Department of Culture of the City of Milan. For nine days, works on paper by contemporary artists and masters of the 20th century take center stage in a series of exhibitions hosted by museums and galleries throughout Milan’s urban network. The aim is to spark a dialogue with the major historical and artistic heritage safeguarded by the Collection, highlighting drawing by both established and contemporary artists, bringing it into conversation with the themes that nourish current artistic research. The initiative also offers the public the opportunity to explore a little-known medium—shared by creatives across all disciplines—capable of speaking to everyone with immediacy. The Ramo Collection, consisting of roughly 800 drawings by Italian artists, provides participating artists with a selection of works from the 20th century, inviting them to choose one as a point of departure for a dialogue with their own works on view.For the occasion, Thomas Berra has selected a delicate yet precious work on paper by Osvaldo Licini, Untitled (Amalassunta), which will be displayed in Via Lazzaro Palazzi gallery in dialogue with a series of new works by Thomas. These include charcoal drawings in black and white, presented alongside a group of green-toned works, in which the so called “Vagabonde” -undergrowth and unwanted plants characteristic of Berra’s research- become the protagonists of imaginary herbariums. Departing from detailed naturalistic description, Berra’s drawing is marked by rapid, spontaneous gesture, broad fields of vivid color, and repeated forms that articulate the visual composition. Thomas Berra answers questions from Irina Zucca Alessandrelli, curator of Collezione Ramo and Milano Drawing WeekWhat does drawing mean to you? Drawing is the horizon of the sea; it is freedom and freshness. It is a dive into the future. Drawing is the fresh air of June, when the night senses the arrival of summer.What materials, techniques, and creative processes do you use when working on paper? Pencil, charcoal, fountain pen, ink, pastels—in short, anything that happens to be at hand.Why did you choose this work from Collezione Ramo? Because Licini represents, at the same time, both the joy and the drama of the painterly gesture.What value does dialogue with the Masters of the 20th century have for you? Absolute. |
Thomas Berra | Milano Drawing week Opening: Saturday, November 22 12:00 pm – 7:00 pm Opening hours: Tuesday – Friday 3:00 pm – 7:00 pm Saturday 12:00 pm – 7:00 pm & by appointment UNA, via Lazzaro Palazzi 3 Milano intercom 1001After the conclusion of Milano Drawing Week (November 30), Thomas Berra’s works will remain on display at the gallery until December 20, 2025. |
| Thomas Berra (*1986, Desio, MB) studied at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts. His work has been exhibited widely in Italy and abroad, with solo shows at UNA (Piacenza), Ca’ Pesaro – Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna (Venice), Zazà Ramen (Milan), Kuja Gallery (Helsinki), Magazzini del Sale – Palazzo Pubblico (Siena), Spazio Leonardo (Milan), Villa Vertua Masolo (Nova Milanese), Room Galleria (Milan), Spazio 1929 (Lugano), Mana Contemporary (Chicago), and Banca Sistema (Milan).Notable group exhibitions include: Triennale Milano, Pastificio Cerere (Rome), Museo della Montagna (Turin), FuoriCampo Gallery (Siena), Studio O2 (Cremona), Palazzo delle Stelline (Milan), and Palazzo Mezzanotte (Milan). In 2024, Berra was featured on the cover of the Vogue Agenda 2025. He was shortlisted for the Premio Cairo in 2018 and 2024. In 2017 he won the 6artista Prize, with residencies at Fondazione Pastificio Cerere (Rome) and Schafhof – European House of Art Upper Bavaria (Freising, Germany). Earlier, in 2013, he received the Unicredit Prize with a solo exhibition at Superstudio Più (Milan). In 2014 he co-founded Subculture fanzine, a collective publishing project shown at Edicola Radetzky (Milan). |