Egidio Gariano, stage name Egì, was born in 1960 in the Veneto region of Pieve di Cadore, which was also the birthplace of the famous Tiziano Vecellio and perhaps precisely because of this assonance he has been attracted to colours, pencils and sheets of paper since childhood.

There isn’t a day in which I haven’t drawn, painted, coloured. When he moved to Trentino, he attended the Technical Institute of Art in Pozza di Fassa and here his passion took more and more shape.

At the age of twenty he is curious, hungry for the world and novelty; where can he continue to expand his passion if not in the cradle of art? Urbino, birthplace of Raphael. Here he obtained the Academic Diploma at the ISIA – Higher Institute for Artistic Industries, where he was trained to enter the world of work as an advertising graphic designer and, in 1983, he graduated with 110 cum laude.

He returns to Veneto and works as an art director in some renowned advertising agencies. His is a fantastic journey that began with simple pastels, watercolors and tempera. Fascinated by hyperrealism, he says: “…the airbrush, the “laser” of painting, enters my toolbox”.

Now, Egì dedicates himself full time to the creation of large-format acrylic paintings. His is a magical itinerary with lots of colour, a lot of canvas to fill, …an uncontainable joy! “…First the airbrush, then the oil, were fundamental allies, and for me essential, to become fully aware of the lights, shadows, proportions, light and dark and depth. Immense visual experience that I constantly use in my works” .

The themes of his works vary greatly, from faces to landscapes, flowers and vegetables, animals and Renaissance sculptures, all created with a “fusion” style, because it is a fusion between figurative, pop art and abstract painting. “…I only choose subjects that excite me in some way, then I paint them with lots of color and expressive power and I don’t stop until, observing them, they excite me at least twice as much. They are thick brushstrokes and spatula strokes. I can do them with a bit of premeditation, but it is impossible for me to predict what will actually happen on the canvas. So I am not completely responsible for my acrylic paintings, as was the case with oil hyperrealism. There is always an initial intention, but the final result it’s always something… magical.”