Biography
Fabio Modica was born in Catania in 1978. An apprentice to well-known Italian painters Alberto Abate and Antonio Santacroce, he was soon inspired by the classical Renaissance, occasionally drawing on Greek and Latin mythology. In his early years as a painter, the human figure wrapped up in a Caravaggesque light was his major subject matter and oil paint his favorite medium. His versatile spirit has led him to incorporate many different styles and mediums into his later works, including watercolors, acrylics and chalks.
The encounter with Santacroce in 2002 marked a departure from the representational style towards a semi-abstracted texture. Modica's enduring realism was gradually dismantled by a compelling drive for sheer lines and thick smudges of color.
Over time, Modica has grown a genuine passion for nude art, which has recently inspired a series of black&white paintings on the commodification of the human body and its spiritual decay. In this series, called "Mercification", the absence of color enables the painter to rely entirely on the force of his brushstroke and the gesture of scratching and carving the pictorial surface.
Modica's distinctive mark is seen in his ability to lay down "multi-layered coats of vibrant paint spread over a tortured canvas with vigorous spatula strokes, as if the painter were action painting". His most celebrated artworks are close-in portraits of female faces whose gaze "directs itself to the viewer like a darting arrow". As it has been put, "the meaning of everything is condensed in faces inhabited by beauty or imbued with suffering, all tied up together by a thin red string: the eyes. Hypnotic eyes, of a persistent crystal blue in the intimate fabric of matter and thus as deep as the soul. Eyes, guardians of truths, capable of pulling in the viewer in the fullness of their openness. Eyes interrogating and scrutinizing. Eyes speaking to us."
Fabio Modica's "faces" shape fragments of memories, enigmatic moods, and modernist "moments of being". They have become part of two parallel series titled "Gnosis" and "Prisoners of Matter", both widely acclaimed in the US art galleries where most of Modica's artistic output has been shown since 2013.
The term "Gnosis", Greek in origin, means "knowledge", but not so much theoretical as embedded in action and experience. The painter strongly believes that Art is the most effective means to enhance self-awareness. The Gnosis series captures individuals experiencing a state of epiphany and self-revelation which suddenly generates a truly eye-opening emotion. The feelings explored are, inter alia: wonder, oblivion, eagerness, elevation, regret, self-denial, loss, composure and liberation.
In the Prisoners of Matter series the subjects are constrained within the material world, symbolized by the painting "matter". Modica skillfully catches the brief instant in which a kind of illumination, which film director Werner Herzog calls "the ecstatic flash, from which Truth emerges", breaks his subjects free from their self-made traps and barriers, so they can awake into a higher level of consciousness.
Fabio Modica has frequently partaken in art events promoting the importance of recycling in Art. A successful cycle of works entirely made of trash materials earned him the third prize at the 2012 international competition called “STOP ALLO 048 degli oggetti” and hosted in his hometown, Catania. Here Modica's portraits arise out of multicolored nails, screws, pins, plastic tools, clipped wires and whirling cables, all of which contributing to a more vivid imagery. His latest artwork of this series is a massive three-piece portrait of a woman’s face forged with used-up denim.
At present, in the United States, Modica is being represented by "Lowe Gallery" in Atlanta, “Sorelle Gallery” in Connecticut, and “Aberson Exhibits” in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His work has also been included in many art shows throughout Europe, especially in England, Spain, France and Italy. Up until 2011, he cooperated with two modern and contemporary art galleries in London, East End “Brick Lane Gallery” and Covent Garden “Opus Gallery”. In Italy he is currently working with “Il Borgo” Gallery in Milan, "Spazio d’Arte l’Altrove" in Ferrara, and "Side A Gallery" in Catania. The cultural association “SpazioVitalein” and “Ideattiva”, both based in Catania, have been promoting him for years, the latter being especially active in the field of recycling. In Nice, France, Modica’s paintings are permanently displayed at the “Villa Magdalena” Art Gallery.
Fabio Modica is currently teaching painting and interior design at the "Nike" Academy of Fine Art and Restoration in Catania.
Education & Training
2009-2010 University of Bologna – Master’s Degree in History and Preservation of Works of Art, Bologna- Ravenna, Italy.
2003-2005 Palazzo Spinelli Fine Art and Restoration Institute, Master’s Degree in Drawing, Painting and Trompe l'Oeil decoration, Florence.
1999-2003 Nike Academy of Fine Art and Restoration, Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art and Restoration, Catania.
2001 Nike Academy of Fine Art and Restoration, Training Course in Restoration of old books, drawings and printed images, Catania.
2000 Nike Academy of Fine Art and Restoration, Training Course in Restoration of paintings, Catania.
EXHIBITIONS
2015 “Glimpses of Light” – Aberson Exhibits – Tulsa – OK - USA
2015 “Gnosis” – Galleria Civica “Pippo Giuffrida” – Misterbianco – CT - Italy
2015 “Prisoners of Matter” – Bill Lowe Gallery – Atlanta – GA - USA
2015 “Materia e Luce” – Officina della memoria e dell’immagine – Fiuggi - Italy
2014 Percezioni Nascoste – Studio A Gallery – Catania (CT) - Italy
2014 Mediterranean Portraits - Officina della memoria e dell'immagine - Fiuggi (FR)
2014 Sperlinga Castel - Mediterranean Portraits - Sperlinga (EN), Sicily
2013 Sicily Outlet Village – Dittaino (EN) Mostra collettiva “Jeans d’Autore”
2013 SpazioVitalein Art Gallery – “Face not only” – Solo Exhibition, Catania.
2013 SpazioVitalein Art Gallery - “Le forme reciproche” (tr: “The Mutual Shapes”) – Group Exhibition, Catania.
2012 Le Ciminiere Art Gallery - “Stopallo048degliOggetti” - Competition on Recycling Art & Group Exhibition, Catania.
2012 Opening of the Museum of Contemporary Art (Museo del Presente), Group Exhibition, Nicosia (Enna, Sicily).
2012 MAS Art Gallery - “Il Colore Demiurgo” - Solo Exhibition, Catania.
2012 Pennisi di Floristella Castle - “Symphony of Lives”- Solo Exhibition, Acireale (Catania).
2012 Artisanship Fair, Solo Exhibition, Acireale (Catania).
2011 CAL CAUCADE - “Peintures & Poesies aux couleurs de l’Italie”- Nice.
2011 Brick Lane Gallery –“Art in Mind” – London.
2011 Nike Academy of Fine Art and Restoration, Group Exhibition, Catania.
2011 ESART Gallery – “Art Nou - XII Salone d’Inverno” – Barcellona.
2010 Art Nou – International Group Exhibition of Contemporary Art – Leon – Spain.
2010 L’altrove Art Gallery – “Portraits of memories” – Ferrara.
2010 “Celeste Prize”, Selected for publication (painting: “Abandoned Circe”).
2010 “Art Gallery Prize” Finalist at the first Edition – Milan.
2010 Brick Lane Gallery , “Art in Mind” Group Exhibition, London.
2010 Villa Magdalena Art Gallery – “Couleurs de l’art, Couleurs de l’ame” – Permanent Exhibition
2010 Il Borgo Art Gallery – “The Art of Nude” – International Exhibition of Contemporary Art, Milan.
2010 Il Borgo Art Gallery – “Fuori Salone 2010” – International Exhibition of Contemporary Art – Milan.
2010 Villa Magdalena Art Gallery - “Voyage Dans la Couleur” - Nice. France
2009 “L’Altrove” Contemporay Art Gallery, “Lo sguardo, specchio o anima?” (tr: “The Gaze, Mirror or Soul?”), Ferrara.
2009 Brick Lane Gallery , “Art in Mind” Group Exhibition, London.
2003 Convitto Cutelli Contemporary Art Gallery, “2nd Biennal of Sacred Art”, Catania.
2003 Viagrande’s Communal Villa, “Le anime di un giovane artista”, (tr: “The souls of a young artist”), Catania.
2003 “Event’s art” – Stage Designing, Catania.
2003 Le Ciminiere Art Gallery, “2nd Mediterranean Exhibition on the Restoration and Conservation of the Cultural and Environmental Heritage”, Catania.
2001 Impromptu Art Exhibition, “Dipingi il Barocco di Militello” (tr: “Painting Militello’s Baroque”), Catania.
2001 Impromptu Art Exhibition – “IV Spring Fair”, Catania.
2000 Impromptu Art Exhibition – “III Spring Fair”, Catania.
REPRESENTED BY
2014 - 2015 Aberson Exhibits - Tulsa (OK) USA
2013 - 2015 Lowe Gallery - Atlanta - USA
2014 - 2015 Sorelle Gallery - New Canaan (CT) - Albany (NY) - USA
2014 - 2015 Studio A Gallery – Catania
2014 SCAA Gallery - Rancho Santa Fe - San Diego - California - USA
2009 - 2014 Villa Magdalena Art Gallery - Nice - France
2013 Besharat Gallery - Barbizon – France
2013 Spazio Vitale In - Catania - Italy
2009 - 2011 Opus Gallery - Covent Garden - London - UK
2011 L’altrove Art Space – Ferrara - Italy
