FRANCO CISTERNINO - Italy -

CONTACTS: info@francocisternino.it

Sweet

Green eyes

oil on canvas cm 100 x 100

As a Mom

Love

oil on canvas cm 100 x 100

Kiss kiss

Spite

oil on canvas cm 100 x 100

CURRICULUM

Main events and exhibitions by the artist:
2003
(May), Art event “Certaldo in cornice”, (Florence);
(July), Art event “Premio Torvaianica” Cardinal Pizzardo Hall, (Pomezia);
(November), 10th International Painting Competition “Il Gioco nell’Arte” at Villa Ormond in Sanremo, (6th place).
2004
(February), international painting event “Metti una canzone in cornice” held alongside the Sanremo Festival at Villa Ormond, (Sanremo);
(April), group exhibition “Paesaggi d’Italia” Sala Foresi in Civitanova Marche, (MC);
(June), “Prima Marguttiana città di Nemi”, (ROME);
(June), group exhibition “Tra Realtà e Fantasia” as “GEMELLI IN ARTE”, (Foggia);
(July), “Marguttiana dei Palmensi” Marina Palmense, (Fermo);
(August), exhibition “GEMELLI IN ARTE” at Bottega d’Arte, (Sanremo);
(November), 4th Acca in…Arte Trophy “Autunno a Roma” at the Hotel Four Point Sheraton Roma West.
2005
(February), 2nd international prize “La Scarpetta di Cenerentola” for illustrators of myths, fairy tales and children’s stories, (Fermo);
(June), exhibition “GEMELLI IN ARTE” at the Municipal Library “Sala Manzù”, (Aprilia);
(December), PIACENZA ARTE 1st Contemporary Art Market Exhibition dedicated to artists “Stand as “GEMELLI IN ARTE”
2006
(January), 5th Acca in…Arte Trophy “Autunno a Roma” at the Hotel Four Point Sheraton Roma West;
(September), “GEMELLI IN ARTE” exhibition at the “Bellini arte” gallery, Cascina, (Pisa).
(November), TV programme “TRA FORMA E COLORE” broadcast on SKY channels (SAT8/SAT9) and on Lazio regional TV, hosted by ANDREA DIPRE’ (Rome).
(December), awarded the Rembrant Prize in Lecce.
2007
(February), TV programme “L’ITALIA DI DIPRE’” broadcast on SKY channels and on Emilia Romagna regional TV, hosted by ANDREA DIPRE’.
(March), “GEMELLI IN ARTE” stand at the Contemporary Art Fair “Vernice Art Fair” Forlì.
(October), International Art Exhibition “Roma 2007” at the Basilica S. M. del Popolo, Agostiniana Hall, organised by “Galleria d’Arte CRISPI”.
(November), Group show November 2007 from 24 November to 12 December at “Galleria d’Arte 18” in Bologna.
(December), exhibition titled “Tra realtà ed Illusione” by “GEMELLI IN ARTE” from 05/12/’07 to 04/01/’08 at “Banca Sella” in via Bertoloni, 9 (Parioli area) Rome.
(December), TV programme “L’Italia di Diprè” broadcast every Sunday from 12:00 to 13:00 on AB cannel 920 and every evening from 22:00 to 23:00 on channel 814.
2008
(January to June), TV programme “L’Italia di Diprè” broadcast every Sunday from 12:00 to 13:00 on AB cannel 920.
(January to June), some of our works become part of the art movement “METROPOLISMO” and are presented by Andrea Diprè every evening on SKY channel 932 “Carpe Diem” from 23:00 to 24:00.
(January), in collaboration with “Galleria MONDARTE” in Anzola dell’Emilia (Modena), with works on permanent display and for TV sales on local channels..
(March), exhibition in collaboration with Mondarte Art Gallery and the restaurant LA TABERNA di BACCO, via Serlio no. 26/22 Bologna, from Thursday 12 March for 2 months “GEMELLI IN ARTE”.
(April), exhibition titled “Tra realtà ed Illusione” by “GEMELLI IN ARTE” from 07/04/’08 to 28/04/’08 at “Banca Sella” in via dei Mille 9/11 Florence.
(October), twin exhibition ""Gemellare"" titled "Tra illusione e Realtà" at BANCA SELLA in via Massarenti, 416 in BOLOGNA from 10/10/'08 to 14/11/'08
(November), we are present at the Reggio Emilia Fair with the "MONDARTE" Gallery from 28/11/'08 to 01/12/'08 stand D28
(December), present in a group show at the "Contemporanea Galleria d’Arte" in Foggia, viale Michelangelo, 65 from 07/12/2008 to 31/12/2008
2009
(July/August), present in various group shows with the "Contemporanea Galleria d’Arte" in viale Michelangelo, 65 Foggia.

2010
(January), double solo exhibition by “Gemelli in Arte” at the “Contemporanea Galleria d’Arte” in viale Michelangelo, 65 Foggia
(April), exhibition from 22 April to 8 May 2010 at the REDSTAR CULTURE THEATRE in HANGZHOU, CHINA
(May), exhibition from 10 to 25 May at XIHU DISTRICT ZHUANGTAN CHUANGYI ROAD HANGZHOU, and LAODONG ROAD 102 in HANGZHOU, CHINA
(May), exhibition at an international FAIR from 27 to 31 May at the Westlake Art Fair in HANGZHOU, CHINA
(June), exhibition from 1 to 15 June at the REDSTAR CULTURE THEATRE in HANGZHOU, CHINA
2011
(March), double solo show of "GEMELLI IN ARTE", included within the tenth edition of the exhibition 'Vico Vitri Arte', at the Torre degli Upezzinghi in Calcinaia (Pisa)
2012
(October), exhibition from 17/10 at the Art Gallery “Carrè d' artistes” (-66, rue St-Andrè-des-Arts) Paris (France)
(December), group exhibition from 29 December 2012 to 26 January 2013” Metropolismo, la fine dell'euforia” (PROGETTARTE3D Piazza San Pellegrino 1) Viterbo.
(December), exhibition from 08/12 to 16/12 "Gemelli in Arte" Piazza statuto 21 in Pietrasanta (Lucca)

2013
(January), the exhibition at the Art Gallery “Carrè d' artistes” (-66, rue St-Andrè-des-Arts) Paris (France) continues throughout the year
(October/November), exhibition at the Art Fair “AAF Amsterdam” with “Galleria Palma Arte” stand C1+C2 from 31/10/2013 to 03/11/2013.
2014
(January), group show “LEITMOTIV” at “Visiva” città dell'immagine in via Assisi, 117 _Rome_ from 11 to 17 January; organised by “Orizzonte Contemporaneo”
(February), AAF Brussels from 6 to 10 February 2014 with “Galleria Palma Arte” stand E5
(April), AAF DE TIMMERFABRIEK MAASTRICHT from 2 to 6 April 2014 with “Galleria Palma Arte”stand 26

YOUR BIOGRAPHY

Franco Cisternino was born in Foggia on 21 July 1969, together with his twin brother Carmine.
His love for drawing and painting, which has been with him since childhood, led him to attend the State Art Institute of Foggia and earn the title of Master of Art.
It was during his school years that, by studying and exploring various techniques such as oil, watercolor and graphite, he further developed the artistic skills he already had. From the very beginning, in fact, he won numerous competitions and live painting events through hard work.
To avoid being a burden on the family finances, while studying he began working on commission, devoting himself to demanding works such as engraved portraits and large-format oils.
He thus developed a protective nature and a sensitive soul which, until not long ago, led him to create works depicting landscapes and settings damaged by man.
After marrying a primary school teacher, for work reasons he moved with his family first to Turin and later to Aprilia (LT), being able to devote himself to painting only occasionally.
In 2002, encouraged by his twin brother Carmine, he returned to his old passion and began presenting himself to the public through exhibitions, competitions and events. Since then he has never stopped, taking part in international fairs and exhibiting in several French galleries.
He currently lives in Bientina (PI), surrounded by the Tuscan hills, together with his wife and two daughters aged 15 and 9, who are for him great sources of artistic inspiration.

THE CRITIQUE

The golden age
It is said that art is suffering, that from this dramatic, if not tragic, state of mind inspiration draws sap and substance. Pain shines through the various artistic languages, sometimes with a healing function, at times for display, or rather because one knows nothing else of life. Every artist, to some extent, is a flayed Marsyas: heightened sensitivity allows them to perceive more than others, and to sublimate, through their own creativity, inner or observed experiences.
Yet it can happen that, from difficult experiences, from harsh lessons, from conflicts to be solved day by day, one manages to find and pursue a happy ending, and to tell it and mediate it through one’s creative code.
In Franco Cisternino’s artistic output, a personal poetics of the “little child” comes to the fore, an innocence wholly Chaplinesque, with sparkling, fiery, hopeful gazes.
Cisternino moves along the roadway of a childhood and adolescence never fully lived, yet which, in some way, unites him with a large part of adults, who often forget that golden age, that totally different perception of reality, enchanted and timeless.
Cisternino’s production is entirely devoted to the universe of childhood; it is no surprise, then, that the landscapes he works on echo with a fairy-tale tone, while at the same time revealing other realities, more critical reflections.
In Cisternino’s paintings, the child figure, hyperrealistic and diaphanous, unquestionably dominates everything, standing out against a mostly bare, minimalist, crushing background, which makes the composition tend toward a tactile two-dimensionality, toward a greatly intimate and deliberately playful relationship with the viewer. A two-dimensionality reaffirmed also by the predominance of the orthogonality of the lines on which the figures are built, which tend to adhere to the pictorial surface, in keeping with the whole of contemporary poetics.
The black and white used for these so realistically illuminated characters, however, shifts them onto a different plane of reality (that of the adult?), as if to indicate that there is an element still in the process of definition, like that involved in the process of growing up.
Cisternino’s is a unifying palette of pastel tones, with an almost zenithal incidence of light, bathed in chromatic nuances and gentle, soft, light shading.
The reassuring, carefree world of childhood, made visible by a masterful technique, is also pervaded by a speculative, intertextual and extra-pictorial component. Cisternino frequently reproduces margins, a sort of abstract and theoretical frame obtained from the canvas left bare along its perimeter, which becomes both an integral part of the ideal world told by the depicted images, since it invades their space, and of the concrete world, since the margin-frame is the canvas itself.
In some cases there is a fictitious reproduction of torn canvas that aims to show something else, telling two visions, two realities at the same time, ultimately making concrete the temporal simultaneity of a before and an after. The act of unveiling, suggested by the idealized and energetic action of tearing, underscores the remarkable importance of what had been, or would have been, hidden or dormant. An extra-pictorial function is also taken on by the butterflies – recurring in Cisternino’s works - which come to rest on the canvas as if, from this world, they became intruders into the world of pictorial representation. The same happens when the characters, playing tic-tac-toe or intent on tracing some sign, rest on a plane that is nothing other than the one that separates the pictorial universe from the real one.

curated by Marina Ciangoli

“Representing the world of adolescents makes me feel good, perhaps because in this way I relive the adolescence I didn’t have, an important period in a person’s healthy growth and that unfortunately, as adults, we forget”

[Franco Cisternino]

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