Elvio Mainardi was born in Adria on December 15th 1934.
The rolling Polesian plain, which stretches from the mouth of the River Po, through Venice and Ravenna, has fascinated him since childhood.

The haze and mists, which almost always seem to engulf the countryside, endow it with a «magical» quality, and cry out for the artist's attention.
Sudden gleams of light on the houses of poor people, ridden with damp which rises from the black soil, heavy-headed willows, sodden with water coursing through endless ditches, fingers of land pointing out into the great river, swallowed by the fog which seems to absorb them effortlessly.
It was here that Mainardi found the desire to express himself, and the necessary urge to paint. There was the longing to express his every experience, his every emotion, every moment of life spent among his people.

In 1952 he exhibited his first works in his native town, and found immediate favour with the public and the local critics. He found his first teacher, T. Foster, who held him entranced with his surreal, dreamlike imagination. Mainardi was a founder member of the local art association, getting together all the artists from the town, and organising frequent meetings, competitions and visits to major exhibitions. He took part himself in national and international competitions, winning 26 first prizes in Italy and 3 abroad.

In 1960 he moved to Bologna, where, under the auspices of his teachers Ilario Rossi and Corrado Corazza, he studied and grasped the great secrets of art. In 1961 he staged his first personal exhibition, in Bologna, at the «Galleria la Scaletta», and in the same year he married Lidia, who was to bear him two children, Andrea and Silvia.

For eleven years he worked on the restoration of the old town on behalf of the city council. By then he was well integrated in the life of Emilia, and it was there he met and got to know the great masters: Morandi, Saetti and Korompai, and periodically organised both personal and joint exhibitions at the «Galleria il Crocicchio», which were given excellent receptions. He diligently «did the rounds» of other artists' studios, galleries and collections, experiencing the full intensity of Emilian culture of the time.

In 1973 he moved to the Valtellina in the far north of Italy, where he still lives, away from the discomforts of the city, in a charming valley, where peace, silence, ever-present snow and unspoilt nature coexist in perfect unison. Here he rediscovered himself, his most profound intimacy of thought, his depth of concentration and a compelling urge to paint.
In 1966 he was part of a national group of adherents to the «En plein air» school, through which he met many artists from all over Italy, encouraging him to enrich and refine his own painting style.

From 1967 to 1981 he executed a series of large canvasses for the American firm «Caterpillar». In 1985 he was called upon to design and execute three posters for the world skiing championships, which were an immediate and resounding success all over the world, thanks to the colours, the expressive and dynamic force of his figures, and especially to the return of « figuration » on sports posters. In 1986 America is beckoning Mainardi again, where he will stage a series of exhibitions. The public will doubtless be able to affirm that he still endows his pictures with the same love for his homeland which has always characterised his work.