A-typical faces in a-typical places / with Stefano Siggillino

“I was born in the city of Matera, where the lack of perspective and narrow streets gives a sense of freedom and, fortunately, I grew up in a family where art and freedom were pillars of reference. As a child, I played in the streets, when neighbourhood life inside the Sassi of Matera was still authentic. Although few years have passed since then, the chickens were the absolute masters of the streets, the ladies talked to each other through the windows, there was a sense of community that has been lost today.

For some issues, unable to express myself clearly with verbal and written language, I found in art an immediate and sincere expression, a channel of communication that fuelled my passion and transformed it into dedication to fantasy. Influenced by classicism and the revolutionary vibrations of the 20th Century, in most of my works I have incorporated the search for simplicity, as a return to the essential, both in terms of shapes and the use of colours. My true obsession is the Mediterranean, especially Greek culture, so I decided to spend part of my life discovering this magical land full of meaning for the whole world.

For many years now, I have been sailing the Bari – Patras route, passing through the Corinth Canal to arrive in the cradle of culture ‘Athens’. In my wanderings among the mountains and the many islands, I accidentally landed on Nisyros, my island. Here I built a small Kavatza on the beach to shelter myself, it kept me safe for about 3 months, immersing me even more in this culture, made of stories, sea, stars, myths, winds, songs, dances, dreams and hopes, where man identifies with the body and believes that the soul is made of insubstantial breaths.

Here I give life to my Mythology, Blue is the predominant colour in which to lose oneself, gold and well-defined lines the hook to find oneself. Serafino is my imaginary friend, the engine of all my stories, so he moves freely between myth and imagination.”