REMO SQUILLANTINI ©

REMO SQUILLANTINI

Remo Squillantini was born in Stia in the province of Arezzo in 1920. A successful author, with his famous cycles such as 'The Jazz Players' and 'The Players', loved by collectors and immediately recognisable by the general public for his particular technique, Squillantini was an artist of great renown, while at the same time remaining a simple and shy man, who spoke above all through his works, which were always in demand. After devoting himself to an intense activity as an illustrator with important publishers, he concentrated exclusively on painting from 1970 onwards, immediately gaining praise. Remo Squillantini is a master at depicting women and men at the end of their illusions, with no hope of happiness, figures that express the wait for nothingness for themselves, for others. He elaborates a gallery of characters intent on daily rituals, whose vices, habits, weaknesses and conformisms he highlights. His characters are anonymous extras crowding the stage of everyday life, aged men and withered women, with no more dreams, desires or illusions. Yet the message that seems to come from his canvases is one of reaction to a dragging bourgeois life, a sort of invitation to live fully, to write life stories full of passion and civil commitment. In 1975, with his solo exhibition 'Squillantini', he began his collaboration with the Piero Della Francesca Art Gallery in Arezzo, which would last until the artist's death and which would see, in addition to his presence in exhibitions and shows, the publication of important art editions, lithographs and engravings. The 1980s and 1990s were the years of definitive consecration for Squillantini, who was invited to numerous national exhibitions and shows, participating in important fairs such as: 'Arte Fiera di Bologna' on several occasions, and from 1978 onwards at 'Expo Arte' in Bari. Some subject exhibitions that dealt with entire cycles of his painting, such as 'The Seven Deadly Sins', 'The Sea', 'The Cabaret' and 'Sinopie primi '900', proved to be of particular importance. His works can be found in banks and public institutions and in important national collections, as well as in the United States, Canada, Germany, Switzerland and Holland. He died in Florence in 1996.