BIOGRAPHY
Lio was born in Pietrasanta, Tuscany, in 1987, he spent most part of his life in Milan. His parents are glass artisans, Lio started painting in their workshop. He attended Brera Art High school in Milan from 2001, where he experimented various painting techniques. After these studies he started self-taught painting but he lost interest in it since when he discover the American artist “El Mac” and thanks to his artworks Leo found out a new source of inspiration and went back to painting.
Leo’s artworks investigate human ego and subconscious revealed in dreams. These important subjects are represented by the depiction of complex labyrinths and by the juxtaposition between light and darkness. He took part in the collective art exhibition “BuenosAires” by 2013, at Open Art Gallery, Milan. In 2013 he met Emmanuel Luna, a painting professor in Madrid, a year after he moved to Madrid and he became very close with the professor, who quickly turned into Lio’s mentor. Emmanuel helped Lio deepening art techniques and creating is own artistic path.
He attended the collective art exhibition “Close Artist” at Close Artist Gallery in Valladolid by 2015. He achieved his first solo exhibition “Expiraciòn” at the regional cultural centre in Leon, Valladolid, in collaboration with Maria Porras and Ana Blanco’s curatorship. He took part in the two-artists exhibition “Lio+Sergianpietri” edited by Daniele Decia at Question Mark Gallery in Milan in 2017.
In 2018 his project “MECER” was selected during the “GALERIA” contest. This project represented Lio’s first art installation that materialised trough a rocking death chair, he catalysed critics attention, winning the first prize of the contest.
Lio’s art lights up pre-Colombian geometry, cutting through the explicit figuration wrinkles. A fertile debate between faces and hands emerges from the intricate texture of the painting canvas made by jute and wood. An incessant dialog between energy sources clarified by pictorial intersections and reflections of gaze cuts and chest cracks. Lio’ style concerns a reticulated decoration. Painting labyrinths create intricate backgrounds that penetrate subjects’ film, their clothes and their gaunt faces. These backgrounds seem to be embroidered by a line. Lio’s painting is concurrently confident and delicate, inspired by US and SouthAmerican art, it is a mix of classic European education, street art and sinister Mexican calaveras. A meticulous detail research and an intimate poetry lend Lio’s artwork a gentle and lyric light.
BIOGRAPHIC NOTES
2011 – ‘Art Revelation’, showroom Valeria Ferlini, Milan, Italy.
2011 – ‘The Dreamer’, advertising agency Primera Voces, Merida, Venezuela.
2012 – ‘Sugar Hill’, spazio concept, Milan, Italy.
2012 – ‘Arte sul Naviglio’, art fair, Milan, Italy.
2012 – ‘Paratissima’, art fair, selected and contest finalist Paraschool, Torino, Italy.
2013 – ‘Ohibò’, cultural association Ohibò, Milan, Italy.
2013 – ‘InnamoARTI’, Galleria dei Partenopei, Naples, Italy.
2013 – ‘V concurso Buenos Aires’, Open art gallery, Milan, Italy.
2014 – ‘MalatintaArt Festival’, El Enclave Art Academy, Madrid, Spain.
2015 – ‘CloseArtist’, Close Artist Gallery, Hotel OnlyYou, Madrid, Spain.
2015 – ‘La dulce Macarrilla’, private property, Madrid, Spain.
2015 – ‘Loveonskin’, Matteo Bianchi design studio, Londn, UK.
2015 – ‘La llave de tu corazón’, cultural association Casa Mex, Barcelona, Spain.
2016 – ‘I labirintidi Malpica’, Malpica club, Madrid, Spain.
2016 – ‘Expiración’, centro regionale d’arte di Castiglia e Leon, curato da: Maria Porras y Ana Blanco, Valladolid, Spain.
2017 – ‘Visceral’, illustrations for the poetry book “Visceral” di Miguel Ángel Pozo, editor: Vive Libro, Spain.
2017 – ‘C.A.L.L.E.’, street art festival, organized by Madrid Street art Project, Madrid, Spain.
2017 – ‘Lio+Sergiamietri’, Question Mark Gallery, organized by the art curator Daniele Decia, Milan, Italy.
2018 – ‘L’altra io’, organized by Question Mark Gallery, Pietra Ligure, Italy.
2018 – ‘Mecer’, selected and winner of the contest ‘GALERIAS VI EDICIÓN’. Organized by the art curator Catalina Arcones, Alicia Sen. Organized by La Cárcel, creation center, Segovia, Castiglia e Leon, Spain.
CONTACTS
SITO WEB: www.lioarte.com
EMAIL: lio@lioarte.com
INSTAGRAM: lio_arte