Summer sum

“My work didn’t come about by accident. Ever since I was little I have drawn on walls, graffitied them. I feel a strong need to make incisions into a surface”

Croce Taravella is a world famous Sicilian artist who was born in 1964 in Polizzi Generosa (Palermo), a town in the Madonie mountain range. His work and philosophy deserve the attention they receive. His world is a world of the common people, a world in need of protection; a sort of purity that is externalised in his art. From this world are drawn all his images and evolutions, his experimental painting which uses a mix of techniques to create incredible chromatic impact. His works are streams of colour, often representing the point of view of a traveller inviting the viewer to embark on a journey of contrast and intellectual growth. Croce Taravella also creates installations in cement, iron, wood, scraps soaked in colour and coated rags. He reconstructs natural scenes in his works, among his native Sicilian mountains and also among Chinese mountains, working in stone and asphalt, which are transformed by the artist into majestic scenery.

Taravella’s human figures, be they men or women, are inserted into an urban context, internal or external, where they are incorporated into its memories, as if they were tied to its life. Memories mix and contaminate each other. His influences are Giotto, Bacon, Caravaggio, American artists and the informal Warhol, but also people on the streets: builders, smiths. He has never had particular preferences or belonged to an artistic group. He has used many artists as he has used many brushes and many colours. He uses them in a particular context to help him get inside a subject, inside a way of working.