Mario Schifano was born in Homs, Libya, in 1934. His family was relocated to Rome during the Second World War. Self-taught from a young age and a restorer of ceramics by trade, the artist embraced a postmodern, meta-critical approach that placed him squarely within the principal movements of the era. His creativity would not be limited by the confines of particular styles, however, as his success as a film-maker and rock musician demonstrates.
Much of his personal aesthetic crystallised in the 1960s, a decade punctuated by encounters and evolutions. In 1962 he took part in the New Realists exhibition at the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York, which showcased his artistic allegiances with pop artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. At the time, his technique was informal, material impasto collages featuring one or two colours at the most. Around the time of the exhibition, Schifano began to appropriate the iconography of advertising and media. He would also exhibit these pop works in New York, with the influence of Jim Dine and Franz Kline increasingly prevalent.
He would later join the Scuola Romana group, which also included Franco Angeli and Tano Festa. Intoxicated with the excitement of cultural life and his artistic circles, Schifano developed an addiction to drugs that would earn him the nickname maledetto – ‘the cursed one’.
In the second half of the 1960s, television, cinema and performance art started to capture Schifano’s interest. He co-founded the band Le Stelle with guitarist Urbano Orlandi. Together they released an album entitled Le ultime parole di Brandimonte. Film work quickly followed too, including Satellite in 1968, to great acclaim. As for his artistic practice, he was deeply inspired by screen printing, as it enabled him to revisit themes in greater depth. The works that he embarked upon during this period would be showcased at the Venice Biennale in 1984. These later works grew increasingly political in nature, echoing events such as the Vietnam War and widespread social unrest through both film and photography.
Notable highlights in Schifano’s filmography include:
– Schifano (16 mm, black & white, silent, 1 min) (1967)
– Voce della foresta di plastica (16 mm) (1967)
– Satellite (35 mm, black & white and colour, 82 mins) (1968)
– Umano non umano (35 mm and 16 mm, colour, 95 mins – Production: Mount Street Film) (1969)
– Trapianto, consunzione, morte di Franco Brocani (35 mm and 16 mm, colour and black & white, 120 mins) (1969)
– Paesaggi (Super 8 mm, colour) (1970)
– Opening sequence for La Magnifica Ossessione (video, colour, 2 mins – Production: Rai) (1985)
– Absolut Vodka (video, colour, 20 mins, with Roberto Lucca Taroni) (1994).
