Sigfrido Oliva - The Masks

The "Still Life" genre emerged in the early 17th century. It consisted of compositions of inanimate subjects, most often flowers or fruit. While initially it was an opportunity for painters to experiment with naturalistic or photographic reproductions of reality, with contemporary art, the "Still Life" also became a way of interpreting reality. Indeed, as happened, for example, in the Cubist avant-garde or in Giorgio Morandi, the in-depth exploration of objects was aimed at a conceptual representation, taken beyond the mere sensory aspect.

The style of artist Sigfrido Oliva is distinguished by a celebration of the expressive potential of pictorial application. He remains deeply rooted in capturing the subject's sensory data, yet his interpretation tends toward expressionism and symbolism. Oliva's expressionism is expressed through a reduction of the subject's contingent details, seeking its true essence, achieved through pictorial application. Indeed, the objects in his still lifes become pure pictorial matter, fluid and dynamic. What matters are the emotional and spiritual vibrations the artist transfers to the canvas. Oliva's application of color is extremely elaborate, dense with substance, sculpting iconic forms with complex meanings. The colors are saturated, imbued with spiritual values.

Sigfrido Oliva was born in Messina in 1942 and grew up in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto. A lover of drawing since childhood, at sixteen he began attending evening classes at the local School of Arts and Crafts. In 1961 he moved to Rome, where he participated in several group exhibitions and, to support himself, worked for a few years in a restoration studio. In 1966 he enrolled in the Scuola Libera del Nudo at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and subsequently expanded his study to include techniques such as watercolor, etching, lithography, and linocut. He came into contact with important artists, art critics, and figures in the world of culture and entertainment, and in 1969 he held his first solo exhibition in a Roman gallery. Since the 1970s, he has exhibited with growing public acclaim in numerous galleries in Italy and abroad.

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