mario Schifano
(Homs, 1934 - Rome, 1998)
Mario Schifano debuts in the group exhibition 5 Artisti Romani: Angeli, Festa, Lo Savio, Schifano and Uncini, curated by Pierre Restany, at Galleria La Salita in Rome (1960). Schifano immediately attracted the interest of art critics with his monochrome paintings made by enamel applied on wrapped paper on canvas. In 1962, fragments of images begin to appear on the monochrome surfaces: at first the figures are just sketched, then they become images of the metropolitan landscape, objects already reproduced. The reality depicted by Mario Schifano is mediated through mass media. The artist starts to introduce in his works numbers, road signs, symbols and brands such as Esso and Coca Cola. In the same year, throughout his first visit to New York, Schifano frequently meets with Frank O'Hara, Jasper Johns, Rothko, Andy Warhol and Gregory Corso. In 1964 he presents at the Venice Biennale his first Paesaggi Anemici, made with enamel colors on glossy paper sheets glued on canvas, followed by works dedicated to Futurism. As passionate of new painting techniques, in the 70s Schifano is among the first to use the computer to create artworks, able to process images and to put them back on emulsified canvases, for these works the artist is more explicitly referring to the images transmitted by the television. In his works, Schifano preferred to use enamel paints made for industrial production because of their ability to preserve the original brilliance and because they dry quickly, enabling him both to paint the picture in the exact moment of its appearance and to provide him with the opportunity of increasing his artistic production. Mario Schifano dies in Rome in 1998.
Among the most important solo and group exhibitions we can mention: 5 Artisti Romani: Angeli, Festa, Lo Savio, Schifano e Uncini, Galleria la Salita (Rome, 1960); I nuovi realisti, Sidney Janis Gallery (New York, 1962); Vitalità del negativo nell'arte italiana 1960/70, Palazzo delle Esposizioni (Rome, 1970); Arte e Critica, Palazzo delle Esposizioni (Rome, 1980); Identitè Italienne. L’art en Italie depuis 1959, Centre Pompidou (Paris, 1981); Italian Art in the XX Century, Royal Academy (London, 1985); The Italian Metamorphosis, 1943-1968, Guggenheim Museum (New York, 1994); Venice Biennale (Venice, 1964-1978-1982-1984-1986-1993); Centrum Sztuki Wspólczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski, (Varsavia, 1999); Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna (Rome, 2008); MACRO (Rome, 2010); Imagine. Nuove Immagini Nell’Arte Italiana 1960-1969, Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Venice, 2016); Roma Anni ’60: No – Pop, Galleria Erica Ravenna (Rome, 2017); Center For Italian Modern Art (CIMA) (New York, 2021).
