Umberto Giangrandi - Latin America

This work is part of a series of graphic works that perfectly reflect Umberto Giangrandi's artistic research. Having moved to Colombia in 1966, the Tuscan artist demonstrates a distinctly South American aesthetic, discernible in what can be described as magical realism. His works, in fact, tread a fine line between reality and dream, where even subjects drawn from everyday life are passed through an objective filter that places them in a truly magical dimension. This doesn't prevent Giangrandi from venturing into truly surreal subjects, with scenes laden with strong symbolism, but his favorite themes remain true to existence.

Even formally, in this series of graphic works, Umberto Giangrandi demonstrates his commitment to a typically South American magical poetics. His subjects are depicted with an objective concreteness that enhances their plastic qualities, yet at the same time, they are characterized by expressive distortions that place them in that middle ground, between reality and dream, existence and symbol, in which Giangrandi's artistic production operates. All of this, in his graphic work, is achieved with a refined incisive style, designed to convey a marked plasticity, also through an extraordinary use of shadows and light.

Umberto Giangrandi was born in Pontedera in 1943. He earned a master's degree from the D'Augusto Passaglia Institute in Lucca and a diploma from the San Marco Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. He has lived in Colombia since 1966. The following year, he joined the National University of Colombia as a professor in the Faculty of Arts and opened his own studio, where he taught printmaking and experimental graphics. In 1971, he conducted an in-depth study of wall posters and political banners. He later co-founded Taller 4 Rojo, along with Nirma Zárate, Diego Arango, Carlos Granada, and Jorge Mora. In 1988, he entered a postgraduate program in Barcelona (Pau Gargallo University) entitled "From Analogue Printmaking to Digital Printmaking." Between 2001 and 2004 he was director of the Academy of Superior Arts in Bogotá and is currently a professor of graphic arts at several universities in Bogotá.

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