UMBERTO MARIANI

Umberto Mariani is a Post-War multimedia artist whose work exudes a special affinity to the folds of textiles. Although he studied the masters of the Romantic period and was surrounded with the emerging movements of Pop Art and Surrealism, the most profound influences he drew his style from were the Classical Greek statues that he grew up observing on the streets of Italy. Mariani’s fascination with the delicate folds of fabric carved out of the hard white marble would later develop into a desire to ma- nipulate the material. He picked up his first projects doing monumental narrative work for the St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican as well as mosaics and frescos for the St. Antony Sanctuary in Rome during the 1960s; and in the 1970s he was widely exhibited in Europe at institutions such as the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels and the Musée Moderne in Paris. Best known for his complex draperies on irregular-shaped canvases, his work explores illusions of light and shadow created within the folds of fabric. New multidi- mensional canvas works combine intricate drapery over elusive lead sheets, where the fabric both serves the purpose of concealing a mysterious object beneath, while also evoking its presence.