Nicola Simbari (July 13, 1927 – December 11, 2012)
lnternationally acclaimed as one of the most gifted artists of our day, Nicola Simbari displays an extraordinary range of talents.
While much of his time has been devoted to oil painting, sculpture and print making, he has also worked in other media. After completing his studies in Rome he designed sets for the theatre and was later commissioned to paint the murals for the Italian Pavilion at the Brussels World Fair. Nicola Simbari is now represented by Raresy who are dedicating a gallery most exclusively to his works – to give collectors and connoisseurs the opportunity to appreciate the many facets of his art. Nicola Simbari is one of the very few artists of our age whose artistic vision has shaped the way that we see the world around us. For people familiar with his images of the Mediterranean nothing is more poignant than travelling there in summer and sensing instinctively the colours and shapes that have inspired this artist.
The master printer
Many of his finest Mediterranean works have been created as prints, one of the media dearest to the artist. Besides being a highly accomplished etcher Simbari has pioneered a form of silk screen printing, known as retablos, which retains much of the vigour of an original oil painting.
The artist supervises every stage of the printing, including the selection of the paper, the mixing of the colours and the printing itself to produce prints of exceptional beauty.
A sculptor with a difference
Unlike other masters, his sculpture is anything but a static or solemn medium. For Simbari it can be humorous or even whimsical. But then his subject matter is unorthodox – the breathtaking anticipation of the circus, the thrilling movements of acrobats on horseback, the pathos of a lone clown playing his saxophone.
An artist of our age
Simbari’s optimism, his joy of life, his sense of poetry and his delight in the beauty of the female form – all communicate themselves with passion through Simbari’s palette.
More recently Simbari has surprised us with paintings that capture the excitement of pop stars in concert and the drama of Grand Prix racing. Soon he will be giving us his interpretation of the horse – at the race course and on the polo field – a subject that has long fascinated him, and is soon to fascinate us.
Elfrida Simbari, New York, 1989