REF1000, 2013

Gerard Di Maccio  

Gerard Di-Maccio was born in Algeria July 31,1948 to an Italian father and a Spanish mother. Interested in drawing from a young age, he attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, the Julian Academy and the School of Fine Arts of Paris. He studied particularly anatomy, geometry, all drawing and painting techniques as well as the history of art.

In 1966, he proposed a thesis in Morpho-Psychology and in 1970 received his professor in Plastic Arts diploma. He teached at the School of Fine Arts of Paris, his old school, during fifteen years.

In March 1979 Hervé Sérane noticed one of his paintings at the Society of Independent Artists salon and decided to organize his first solo exhibition in autumn. A second exhibiton was held in summer 1980 at the Ra gallery.

In 1981 several newspaper articles reflected the impact of this new exhibition. In 1982, he held a new solo exhibition at the Ra Gallery and at the Lyvry Gargan Castle. The press articles about the painter were increasingly numerous by then. In 1984, a manifestation was held outside the entrance of the Grand Palace following the refusal of the F.I.A.C. (International Contemporary Art Fair) to exhibit his paintings. A large section of nearly a whole page was edited in the Libération journal to denounced this censorship M.C. Hugonot in Le Quotidien de Paris.

In 1997, Gerard Di Maccio presents to the press at the EuroArt show in Geneva, an artwork that was supposely the biggest canvas in the world. Its was 27 meters long and 9 meters wide in size. It took him 3 years of hard work to complete this fresco, celebrating humanity. It was exposed laten on, to a bigger audience at the Acropolis of Carthage from July 18 to August 31,1997 and then tour the cities of Cleveland, New York, Paris, and was finally sent to Japan.

In 2000-2001, it was the official opening of "Museum Di Maccio" in Osaka, Japan. His big fresco remains there.