Franco Costa biography

Franco Costa was an Italian painter and artist. He was born in Rome in 1934. He studied music at the Accademia di S. Cecilia in Rome and art at the Ecole des Arts et Metiers in Paris. Before dedicating himself exclusively to painting and screen printing, he experimented with various techniques and artistic forms, creating tapestries, ceramics, high fashion fabrics, glasswork, and set designs and costumes for television, cinema, and theater.
The impressive artistic production of Franco Costa reflects his lively personality and joy of living, which he expresses with works containing a kaleidoscope of colors. His paintings, prints, and serigraphs, through a harmony of bright colors, spaces, lines, and sinuous shapes, communicate his creative energy and optimism. His art is influenced by encounters with personalities such as Nicolas De Stael, Matisse, Le Courbusier, Picasso and Fellini, as well as by numerous travels around the world.
Franco Costa spans themes typically pictorial such as landscapes, flowers, the sea, but also sporting events like sailing races, tennis, skiing, equestrian sports, and car races. Memorable are the official images created for events like the America’s Cup, Whitbread Round the World Race, Sky Race Vasaloppet and the sailing races of the Barcelona Olympics on behalf of the French Sailing Federation. Equally important are the works created for some significant humanitarian initiatives such as the International Year Of Child for UNICEF, Food for All for FAO, 2000 Enfants pour l'An 2000 for Telethon France with various artists including Jean Michel Folon and Never more Holocaust donated by Rabin to His Holiness Pope John Paul II, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the end of the Holocaust.
His works have been exhibited in New York, Washington, Newport, Paris, London, Copenhagen, Oslo, and many other cities. Franco Costa died in Rome in 2015.