SANDRO CHIA WORKS

Sandro Chia, pseudonym of Alessandro Coticchia, is an Italian painter and sculptor. He was born in Florence in 1946 and is one of the main exponents of the Italian Transavantgarde along with Francesco Clemente, Mimmo Paladino, Nicola De Maria, and Enzo Cucchi. He studied at the Istituto d'Arte and the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze where he graduated in 1969. After graduating, he began traveling throughout Europe, India, and Turkey until settling in Rome in 1970.
In the same year, he began exhibiting in Rome and Europe, gradually moving away from conceptual art towards a more figurative style until he arrived at the Transavanguardia, an artistic movement founded by Achille Bonito Oliva.
In 1980, he exhibited in the Aperto 80 section at the Venice Biennale alongside other representatives of his artistic movement. In the same year, he held a solo exhibition in New York, where he moved and stayed for twenty years, often alternating with short stays in Montalcino in the province of Siena. From then on, he held solo exhibitions and participated in group exhibitions in the most important galleries and museums both nationally and internationally.
Sandro Chia develops an artistic language that strongly evokes Renaissance art and the artistic movements of the first half of the twentieth century. His art, inspired by the great masters of the past such as Titian, Masaccio, Tintoretto, Lotto, Michelangelo and contemporaries like Giorgio de Chirico, Fernand Léger, Paul Cézanne, Francis Picabia and Marc Chagall, is pure creation of image that reflects solely itself. His works are characterized by a strong and dynamic pictorial mark and are often populated by heroic male figures painted with rich and vibrant colors.
In 2003, the Italian State acquired three important works for the permanent collection of the Senate of the Italian Republic at Palazzo Madama, while in 2005, the Province of Rome acquired two monumental sculptures placed in front of its headquarters on Via IV Novembre.
In 2011, a retrospective is held at the Foro Boario in Modena and at the MIC, Museo della Ceramica di Faenza. In 2012, it's the turn of the Transavanguardia retrospective at Palazzo Reale in Milan, and in 2014, the city of Livorno commissions him a monumental bronze sculpture to be placed in the newly restored square where the headquarters of the Sant'Anna Research Center is located.
Sandro Chia currently lives between Miami, Rome, and his wine estate Castello Romitorio in Montalcino, where he also oversees the production of prestigious wines.