Manfredi Beninati (born in Palermo, Sicily, in 1970) is a contemporary Italian artist best known for figurative painting, although his work also includes sculpture, drawing, collage and installation. He matters for having developed a personal figurative language within today's European and American art scene.
Before committing fully to art, he studied law and then film, and worked as an assistant director in the Italian film industry. In 1994 he moved to London, where he began working as a visual artist. After spending time in Spain and England, when he returned to Italy in 2002 he started making sculptures and figurative paintings drawn from real or imagined childhood memories.
In 2005 he was one of four artists chosen to represent Italy at the Venice Biennale, where his pavilion won the audience award. In 2006 he received a fellowship from the American Academy in Rome as part of the Rome Prize. His work has also been shown at the Liverpool Biennial in 2008. He now lives and works in Palermo, Rome and Los Angeles, and is represented by galleries in New York, Tokyo and Rome.
Beyond his artistic practice, Beninati promotes the Italian cultural heritage through a foundation he set up with his mother in memory of his younger brother Flavio.