LUCA BONETTI
Art Conservation
FOUNDER
LUCA BONETTI (1947–2023)
Luca Bonetti was a renowned New York art conservator specializing in the conservation and restoration of old masters, modern and contemporary paintings and sculpture. Luca began his career in 60s, volunteering to conserve works of art damaged during the 1966 flood of the Arno in Florence. After having worked in various museums and private conservation studios, mostly in Italy and Switzerland (where he was the first apprentice at the Swiss National Museum in Zürich), he settled in New York City in 1983 and opened Luca Bonetti Corp. His contributions to the field of art conservation include the co-design and manufacture in the U.S. of Starofix; a stretcher with continuous tension, and numerous publications on the methods and techniques of conservation. Luca has been awarded two Awards for Excellence in Design from the Art Commission of the City of New York for the conservation of a mural/collage by Romare Bearden on view at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan, and two murals by Florence Lundberg located at Curtis High School in Staten Island.
OWNER
MAHEN BONETTI
Mahen Bonetti is the owner of Luca Bonetti Corp., and the spouse of the late Luca Bonetti. She has succeeded Luca and oversees the studio and the conservation team. Born in Sierra Leone, she moved to New York and founded the New York African Film Festival in 1993. Today she serves as the Executive Director of the festival, curating and facilitating all AFF programming and events. Additionally Mahen is the recipient of the French government's award Chevalier De L'Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres. She has served on both national and international panels for the arts and film, and continues to maintain Luca’s memory and support his team of conservators in the work and research they do.
CHIEF SENIOR CONSERVATOR
DAVID YANEZ
David has been conserving paintings in New York City for over 35 years. He holds a Masters in Fine Art from Queens College, CUNY, and a BFA from SVA. He trained as a skilled art handler, woodworker, and museum preparator before apprenticing with a leading art conservation studio in NYC, and attending a workshop taught by the well-known art conservator Gustav Berger. In 1998, he moved to Santa Fe NM where he partnered with the private practice of John Andolsek Art Conservation, specializing in South Western paintings. In 2004 he founded Yanez Fine Art Conservation Inc., where he worked in private practice until 2020. He joined LB Studio in 2020 as Chief Senior Conservator shortly before Luca retired. His conservation approach maintains the standards of academic practice, using non-invasive restoration techniques to preserve the integrity of each artwork. Currently, David’s main focus is on problem solving the conservation needs of contemporary paintings and non-traditional painted artworks.
SENIOR CONSERVATOR
MARIE BRUNO
Marie began her career as a painting conservator in Italy, obtaining her conservation degree in Rome, followed by an apprenticeship in the Umbrian countryside restoring public works for the Italian Ministry of Art. Her foundational studies include art history, painting and fine art appraisals from Hunter College, New York University and The American Academy in Rome. Since returning to NYC in 1995, she has restored paintings for leading museums, galleries, foundations and private collectors within leading conservation studios and as owner of Arte Artigianato Restauro, Inc., before joining Luca Bonetti Corp in 2021.
CONSERVATION APPRENTICE
DIANA PATERNO
Diana Paterno is a pre-program apprentice conservator at Luca Bonetti Corp. She holds her BFA in Fine Art and Art History from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, NY. In addition to completing internships in museum collection management and archives, Diana has received archeological excavation and conservation training in Italy and England. She currently is studying chemistry and anthropology at BMCC, and sculpture at the Art Students League of New York, as she prepares for graduate level academic training in fine art conservation.
ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER
DOREEN MCCARTHY
Doreen McCarthy is the administrative manager for Luca Bonetti Studio and a visual artist based in New York City. She received her MFA from Hunter College and has exhibited widely with numerous solo and survey expeditions in the United States, Europe, China, and Japan since 1985. In addition to residencies in Berlin & Cologne, Germany, Santa Fe Art Institute, and Edward Albee’s “The Barn”, she has received grants from The West Collection, Foundation for Contemporary Art, and The Joan Mitchell Foundation and The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation. Her exhibitions have been reviewed in Sculpture Magazine, The New York Times, Hyperallergic, Flash Art, Frankfurter Allgemeine, Sylter Spiegel, NY Arts Magazine and Kölner Stadt Anzeiger.
STUDIO MASCOT, ASSISTANT MANAGER