Mario Schifano was an Italian painter and, since 1960s, one of the most famous representatives of Italian Pop Art. It was a sort of “bridge” between the cities of Rome, Milan and American pop artists.
Mario Schifano’s artworks often referred to popular culture or art history, with well-known brand logos or kitsch recurring motifs in line with the contemporary artistic current of American Pop Art, including water lilies, horses, botanical gardens, fields of grain etc … Unlike his American colleagues, however, Mario Schifano, in the creation of his works of art, performs much more conceptual operations, especially when the subjects are represented on the canvas. Its privileged materials are wrapping paper, synthetic and vinyl glues and commercial covering enamels used for car bodies.
Constantly adapting to contemporary culture, Mario Schifano has worked in numerous media, moving between film, music or photography, often employing more than one at a time.
Born in Homs, Libya, on September 20, 1934, he emigrated with his family to Italy at a young age. Mario Schifano was a very passionate and extremely prolific artist, enjoying a famous career both nationally and internationally. Mario Schifano’s works of art are famous for having been created with an animated, fast “sign”, as if the artist needed to immediately transform an idea into a work of art! Even the subjects reproduced are never fully highlighted, but are the residues of an image, a signal, a reference to urban reality. Mario Schifano’s works of art are exhibited in the most important museums around the world.
