The retrospective on Nicola De Maria at the Macro in Rome is the first major exhibition on this artist held by an Italian public institution. Pure abstraction and brilliant chromatic effects.
Born in Foglianise (Benevento) on 6 December 1954, Nicola De Maria lives and works in Turin. The early production of pencil drawings, pastels, oils and watercolors laid the groundwork for the artist’s definitive choice of a language, selecting painting as his preferred medium of expression. The works on canvas are joined, toward the end of the 1970s, by wall paintings that reveal the spirituality and lyricism of his approach: they transcend the limits of the canvas, occupying the exhibition space, creating environments. His work, concentrated on pure abstraction, is characterized by brilliant chromatic effects, in a return to the ancient techniques utilized by the masters of fresco painting, renewing the relationship with the tradition of painting and classical culture. He became part of the Transavanguardia group, participating in many group shows organized by Achille Bonito Oliva, with a series of non-figurative works that range from large to small formats. The retrospective on Nicola De Maria at the Macro in Rome is the first major exhibition on this artist held by an Italian public institution. For the Macro De Maria has made four large wall paintings in four rooms devoted to the most significant themes of his overall output: the “kingdom of flowers”, the “abstract”, the “materic” and the “nocturnes”. The artist has worked with pigment on canvas, in a format of four meters by six, creating large painted settings on site. They are joined by a selection of works on canvas to accompany the vision of the artistic path of Nicola De Maria, in both thematic and chronological terms.
Rome, Macro, 2004.