Sandro Chia

SANDRO CHIA (Florence, 1946).
Untitled.
Lithograph, copy XIII/XX.
Signed and justified by hand.
Size: 74 x 54 cm; 90 x 70 cm (frame).
Italian painter and sculptor. Prominent member of the Italian movement of the Transvanguardia - together with Francesco Clemente, Mimmo Paladino, Nicola De Maria and Enzo Cucchi -, his work has been exhibited in the most important museums and galleries of the world, standing out his participation in the Biennials of Paris, São Paulo and Venice. His most important exhibitions include the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam (1983), the Metropolitan Museum in New York (1984), the Old National Gallery of Berlin in Berlin (1984, 1992), the Museum of Modern Art in Paris (1984); the museums of Düsseldorf (1984), Antwerp (1989), Mexico City (1989), Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence (1991), Karlsruhe (1992), Palm Springs (1993), Villa Medici in Rome (1995), Palazzo Reale in Milan (1997), the Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida (1997), the Galleria Civica in Siena (1997), the Galleria Civica in Trento (2000), the Museo d'Arte in Ravenna (2000), the Palazzo Pitti and the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Florence (2002); and, more recently, the Cathedral of Sant'Agostino in Pietrasanta (2005).
Chia usually works in large formats, with strong colours, using all kinds of techniques. His work is characterised by the analysis and reuse of the work of artists of the past: in his work In strange, shining water a white dot jumps and a pain in its flight affects me (1979), he is influenced by Max Ernst's engraving A Week of Kindness (1934); in The Slave (1980) he makes a symbiosis of Michelangelo's Slave and Botticelli's The Birth of Venus; in Genoa (1980) he superimposes two works by Chagall and De Chirico; The Scandalous Face (1981) is likewise inspired by De Chirico's mannequins. Chia places special emphasis on the title of his works, as it is part of the message he wants to convey; sometimes he even adds a small poem inside the painting. His work is partly autobiographical, he likes to evoke moments of his own life; his style is expressive and theatrical, emphasising human figures with a monumental, heroic appearance. In 2003, the Italian State acquired three important works from its permanent collection from the Italian Senate in Palazzo Madama, and in 2005, two monumental sculptures were acquired by the Province of Rome and placed in front of its headquarters in Via IV Novembre, Rome.