Nicola De Maria

Nicola De Maria created Regno dei fiori: nido cosmico di tutte le anime (Kingdom of Flowers: Cosmic Nest of All Souls) by intervening on the existing street lamps in piazza Carlo Emanuele II (piazza Carlina), around which he wrapped tubular metal elements with fibre optic threads hooked on them, reflecting the light like a luminous hank, evoking the image of a nest. The title Regno dei fiori, which appears several times in De Maria’s research, reflects the artist’s “cosmic” ambition to embrace all possible worlds within his work, making the transcendent visible, in a quest for harmony laden with spiritual components. His pictorial production, declined in large formats that are often developed on an environmental scale covering walls and ceilings, is characterised by a strong lyrical tension that also finds expression in the titles or phrases drawn in fine handwriting that sometimes appear on the painting. Words and signs refer to an inner dimension that engages in dialogue with the absolute, giving shape to an entire linguistic system, almost a grammar of elementary forms and bold colours, under the banner of a rediscovered innocence.  

Nicola De Maria (Foglianise, Benevento, 1954) participated in the 1977 Paris Biennale with a mural painting and then took part in Transavanguardia, the group formed by critic Achille Bonito Oliva in 1979 that, in the context of the emerging postmodern culture, expressed a renewed interest in painting and traditional art techniques. One of the leading protagonists of Italian art, De Maria has presented his works in galleries, museums and important international exhibitions between Los Angeles, Boston, New York, Tokyo, Osaka, Vienna and Paris. 

Silvia Maria Sara Cammarata