| Home page l Brief Biography |
 |
|
Thoughts… in colour Origins and Formative Years An internationally recognized artist, Marco Salvatore Mallamaci was born in Magna Graecia in 1948. After attending middle school in a seminary, he emigrated to Krefeld, Germany, at the age of sixteen. In 1967, he moved to Windsor, Canada, where he supported himself by working in construction and the restaurant industry. Thanks to evening classes for immigrants, he learned English, passed the TOEFL exam, and enrolled at the University of Windsor in Foreign Languages and Literatures, graduating with honors in 1972 with a Bachelor of Arts. The Return to Italy and the Artistic Spark Upon returning to Italy, he won a public competition in 1979 and was hired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Farnesina). He moved to Rome where, answering an announcement in the famous newspaper Porta Portese, he found accommodation with Professor Eugenio Barra, a retired lecturer from the Academy of Fine Arts of Rome. Watching the professor paint awakened a deep, long-dormant artistic vein in Marco (his only prior experience being an oil painting created in Canada, of which he keeps a photograph). Over time, he transformed first into a passionate collector, purchasing numerous works from Professor Barra, and subsequently into a citizen of the world and a traveling artist. First Experiments and Years Abroad His pictorial debut took place in the early 1980s, coinciding with his transfer to the Italian Consular Agency in Namur, Belgium. During this period, he began to self-teach oil painting techniques, destroying numerous canvases before finding his own stylistic signature. To paint, the artist does not use a palette: he draws colors (predominantly the ultra-fine Winsor & Newton) directly from the tube, spreading them onto the canvas with a brush, a palette knife, or a cotton cloth. It was precisely in Namur that Latin America: The General U$ed came to life—a piece that Chinese painter and critic Zhang Runshi would later define as "a masterpiece" in the magazine Chinese Art (October 2005). In 1985, he transferred to the Embassy of Italy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a period to which the works Minette, Apocalypse, Tempus fugit: Metamorphosis of Beauty, and Celebratory Erection date back. The local Italian Cultural Institute offered him a solo exhibition, but Marco declined the invitation out of professional ethics, wishing to avoid any favoritism related to his diplomatic role. His awareness of his own artistic value was still ironic and lighthearted: when a colleague, struck by his paintings, asked to buy one, he playfully replied that they "cost too much," fueling a pleasant misunderstanding about the actual value of his creations, which at the time he still considered a personal pastime. On September 20, 1988, he took up service at the Embassy of Italy in London, where he painted, among others, the artwork Beheaded on the Road to Damascus. Returning to the Farnesina in 1993, he discovered the historic Ditta Poggi art store in Via del Gesù in Rome; there he met the legendary Mr. Memmo, who introduced him to the use of the renowned Mussini oil colors. International Success in China After a stay in Bogotá in 1996, on August 27, 1999, Marco took up service at the Embassy of Italy in Beijing. It was in China that his art received extraordinary consecration, being invited to the most prestigious international exhibitions. In October 2003, he participated in the 6th Beijing International Art Exposition, achieving enormous success with both the public and critics. Among various accolades, the Chinese poet and painter Wang Xunsheng wrote in a manuscript: "Marco is a remarkable contemporary painter: Italian art has found an Heir." On the occasion of the exhibition, he curated and published "Pensieri... a colori / Thoughts... in colour", a quadrilingual (Italian/English/French and Chinese) catalog printed in Beijing in three thousand copies. The meditative value of his works attracted the attention of the famous South American writer Ariel Dorfman, a professor at Duke University, who wrote to him deeply moved, proposing to use the paintings for the covers of his fiction books, defining them as "meditative, touching, provocative, and capable of generating an enigmatic wonder." From that moment on, successes followed in rapid succession: · October 2003: Invited to the 6th Beijing International Art Exposition. · December 2003: Participated in the 8th Guangzhou International Art Fair. The prestigious monthly magazine China Today dedicated a comprehensive three-page feature to him. · September 2004: Exhibited at the 11th China Art Expo at the "Millennium Monument" Museum in Beijing. · October 2004: Won the Gold Award at the 7th Beijing International Art Exposition, attracting the attention of national television networks such as CCTV and the specialized press. · December 2004: Participated in the 9th Guangzhou International Art Fair. · September 2005: Without institutional sponsors, he was invited to the prestigious 2nd Beijing International Art Biennale, where he received remarkable acclaim from critics and the public. The most prominent names in Chinese criticism, including Li Xianting, Zhao Shulin, Yang Wei, and magazine directors such as Dr. Wang Zhong (Art) and Dr. Xu Yonglin (Chinese Art), dedicated extensive coverage to his work. Among his greatest admirers were also the Hon. Bai Yuzhang and the Hon. Qin Bailan. The Return to Europe and Symbolist Neo-Existentialism In 2005, Marco returned to Italy. His Asian success found an immediate echo in Europe, where he received numerous exhibition invitations and favorable reviews from Western art critics. Among them, Dr. Sabrina Falzone formally defined him as "the precursor of a Symbolist Neo-Existentialism in the 21st century." Deeply connected to the Chinese art scene, during his stays in Rome he intensely promoted the work of his Eastern colleagues in Italy. He supported and registered the artists Zhao Mengge, Zhang Runshi, Duan Xiaoli, Zhong Tianbing, and Ye Xue in the international exhibition "Impressions of the East" in Genoa (2007) and, subsequently, supported the participation of Qin Bailan and Duan Xiaoli in the exhibition "Bridge of Traditions between China and Italy" in Venice (2008). Artistic Independence and Consolidation in Europe During his frequent stays in Rome and visits to Via Margutta, a local gallery owner, impressed by reading the catalog "Thoughts… in colour", offered Marco a sincere piece of advice: to avoid traditional gallery openings in favor of targeted promotion in major industry magazines. Around the same time, the artist took his first steps into the digital landscape, listing his works on prestigious international art platforms such as London-based Saatchi and France-based ArtMajeur. From December 2006 to October 2009, he served at the Embassy of Italy in Managua, Nicaragua, where he carried out the functions of Consul and, in the absence of the Ambassador, assumed the role of Chargé d'Affaires ad interim for two days. Despite his institutional commitments, his exhibition activity continued consistently: · November 2007: Participated in the exhibition "Impressions of the East" within the setting of Palazzo Spinola di San Luca (Palazzo Ratto-Picasso) in Genoa. · December 2007: Upon invitation from the Scientific Committee, he exhibited at the 6th Florence International Biennale of Contemporary Art with the artworks Penelope's Web… for Ulysses, Add Your Signature!, and Astolfo's Vial. · 2008: Participated as Guest of Honor at the 4th Ferrara International Biennale of Art. Success Overseas and Major Institutional Events Between June and August 2009, from Managua (Nicaragua), Marco held a dual solo exhibition in the United States: first at the Museum of the Americas in Miami and, immediately after, at the Latino Art Museum in Pomona, California. In December of the same year, he sealed this successful chapter by returning to China for the 14th Guangzhou International Art Fair. After receiving the "John Paul II Award" in 2014 for his oil painting Maria, 2015 marked the beginning of a close collaboration with the leading figures of Italian art criticism. Upon invitation from Professor Paolo Levi, Marco participated in the 2nd Palermo International Art Biennale, inaugurated by Vittorio Sgarbi. Shortly after, he exhibited in Rome in the evocative Bramante Rooms in Piazza del Popolo. On this occasion, Professor Levi justified the invitation by praising his painting: During that period, his famous painting Pope Francis with President Xi Jinping was published in the magazine Effetto Arte. Successes in major national contexts followed one after another: in 2016, he took part in the Triennial of Contemporary Art in Verona (curated by Levi and Serradifalco, inaugurated by Sgarbi with a committee chaired by Luca Beatrice) and, in 2017, in the Triennial Exhibition of Visual Arts in Rome at the Vittoriano Complex, inaugurated by Achille Bonito Oliva, Vittorio Sgarbi, and Claudio Strinati. A Path of Absolute Freedom and Ethical Rigor In the same year, Vittorio Sgarbi decided to include and comment on Marco's works in his prestigious art volumes: British Royal Fashion Icons was selected for the volume Italiani, while The Warrior Goddess appeared in the anthology Maestri. Right after, the artist was officially admitted to the project "Artists in the Sgarbi Collection". Confirming the international prestige he had achieved, Marco was selected to participate in the 57th Venice Biennale. However, faithful to a highly personal ethical rigor and a lifestyle that shuns empty attendance and non-essential travel, he decided to politely decline the invitation. This same fierce independence manifested in 2022 when Ruthie Tucker, owner of the renowned Amsterdam Whitney Gallery in New York, proposed an exhibition contract for her gallery; Marco, thanking her for the high appreciation, declined the offer, confirming that his works are not for sale. Historical Publications and Current Legacy In recent years, the value of his artistic corpus has received definitive historicization through the most important Italian publishing releases: · 2019: Three of his works were included in the International Yearbook of Contemporary Art Artisti ’19 (Mondadori Store). · 2023: He was invited to propose his works by Start Group, a partner of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the following year, the artwork Penelope's Web… for Ulysses was historicized within the prestigious Atlas of Contemporary Art (Giunti Editore). · 2025: Editoriale Giorgio Mondadori officially included one of his works in the Modern Art Catalog No. 61. Today, the artistic journey of Marco Salvatore Mallamaci represents a rare and pure testament to how art can remain an authentic instrument of ideal, political, and social expression, totally unfettered by commercial logic and market influences. --------------------------- N.B.: Marco is currently finalizing the General, chronological, and annotated catalogue of his works, for which he also maintains an Archive. At present, his entire body of work – with the exception of two pieces gifted to his dear friends Zhang Meng and Zhang Qiu Fang (sisters who assisted him with all the exhibitions he participated in Beijing and Hong Kong – remains part of the artist’s personal collection. By visiting the website marcoartstudio.com, you can view the relevant details for each work.
|
Copyright © 2005 Marco Art Studio E-mail: marcoartstudio@yahoo.it |
||
