Mimmo Paladino

Mimmo Paladino’s affiliation with the Transavanguardia movement (the Italian version of Neo-Expressionism) arose from his method of borrowing from an array of past artistic traditions and iconographies. Working across two- and three-dimensional mediums, Paladino draws inspiration from both the ancient and the modern, from Egyptian, tribal, and classical images to Modernist painting and sculpture. Paladino’s mastery of the styles of printmaking is illustrated by his many semi-figurative prints depicting a primitive male form with object in hand, such as the “Matematico” series (2001). Rendered in classical materials like bronze and stone, Paladino's sculptures take on traditional sculptural subjects, like horses, birds, and the human figure, but with a graceful elongation.