Davide Cicolani's nomadic art on view in Milan

Davide Cicolani (born 1978, Rome) is an irregular, nomadic artist who lived in many places before settling in a caravan in San Felice Circeo. At age six, he was struck by lightning and later developed a severe nephritis that kept him hospitalized for six months. During that stay, his mother brought him colors and paper, sparking his passion for drawing. Since then, Cicolani paints everywhere, especially on portable materials. His works are often 'foldable,' like those made in Paris on metro maps, which become bases for dreamlike figures painted with mixed media and fixed with wax. At Maroncelli 12 in Milan, about twenty works of various sizes are on view, spanning from his early Paris period to the 2020 lockdown. During lockdown, through an iconoclastic research reflected in the Mona Lisa, he began creating female portraits in pastel-primary colors on packing paper—Cicolani prefers recycled materials and supports already charged with memory. His overlays of natural pigment arabesques and graphic stylisms are striking, as is the curious alchemy, Japanese calligraphy, and the frame that encloses all his works like a breath. Sometimes his painting becomes so meticulous it resembles a cathedral window. From Rome to Paris and back, across Europe, he arrives at Maroncelli 12 in Milan, where he finally finds a home.