Biography

Tommaso Costanzo was born in 1981 on September 25th. He grows and lives in Florence. He attends school with little constancy, suffers the authoritarian impositions of the indoctrinating Italian school system. At the age of 14 he decides to embark on his professional career by dedicating himself to craftsmanship. Born with a deep artistic sense, both for poetry and graphic arts, specifically pencil drawing, in adulthood, after countless experiments in the human, political and social fields, Tommaso Costanzo realizes that the only way to express himself is not by words, but rather leaving a tangible and concrete trace of himself in the material around him.

Tommaso Costanzo has participated in the following exhibitions:

Solo exhibition from 2 to 31 May 2014 in the private garden of the Bechelli residence in Florence.
Contemporary Art Exhibition ”The face of the city, alleyways and squares" from 7 to 20 June 2014 at the Art Gallery “Gadarte” in via Sant'Egidio (historical center), Florence
Contemporary Art Exhibition "Mediterranean, the Door of Hope or Shame" on 22-23-24 July at the Church of San Leonardo (historical center), Venice
Permanent Exhibition since July 2016 at “La casa della Cornice e della Specchiera“ in via Sant'Egidio (historical center), Florence
Permanent Exhibition since October 2016 at the restaurant "Il Guscio" in via dell'Orto 49 / A (historical center), Florence
43th Collective Exhibition of St. Luke from October 15 to 30, 2016 with the ART-ART Cultural Association at IAC Gallery via della Croce 41, Impruneta Chianti (Florence)
Contemporary Art Exhibition "WOMAN IS LIFE" from October 22 to 31, 2016 at the Biblioteca Umanistica in Corso Garibaldi 116 Milan, an event of the BRERART Exhibitions.
Contemporary Art Exhibition with TOSCANA CULTURE ASSOCIATION from 13th to 25th November 2016 at the Art Gallery “Il Cesello” in via Stagio Stagi, Pietrasanta (LUCCA), with the participation of Toscana TV Channel 18.
Traveling Exhibition of Contemporary Art "Mediterranean: Door of Hope or Shame" from November 26th to December 4th at the Municipal Art Hall, Piazza Marconi 1, Muggia (TRIESTE)
Contemporary Art Exhibition with TOSCANA CULTURE ASSOCIATION from 20 December 2016 to 9 January 2017 at the Auditorium of the Duomo in Florence, via Cerretani 56r (historical center), Florence, with the participation of Toscana TV Channel 18.
Contemporary Exhibition of visual arts in Tuscany “CONTEMPORANEA” from 14 to 29 January 2017, at the Exhibition Hall “Spazio ICLAB”, in viale Guidoni 103, Florence, inaugurated by the President of the Regional Council of Tuscany E. Giani, and with the participation of Toscana TV Channel 18.
Contemporary Art Exhibition "SCULTOREA" from 4 to 19 February 2017, at the Exhibition Hall “Spazio ICLAB”, in viale Guidoni 103, Florence, inaugurated by the President of the Regional Council of Tuscany E. Giani, and with the participation of Toscana TV Channel 18.
2nd International Exhibition of Contemporary Visual Arts "GOLDEN EAGLE 2017" from 20am to 29th May at the Roman Temple of Pomona in Salerno. On occasion, Tommaso Costanzo's works received the award as finalist of the Exhibition.

THEMES OF TOMMASO COSTANZO’S ARTWORK

In his first pictorial period, the artist tries to approach the fresco on wooden panel, representing his unclean, dirty and degraded Florence as he feels his city today. But he does not forget the glorious past of the city, to which he is referring by representing starry skies typical of the Renaissance in contrast to the chaos of massed buildings.

By handle the plaster, the painter has the desire to give life to the material, first representing architectural forms and then, according with his personal growth, representing landscapes, skies and territories. His idea is to impress in the artwork the driving forces of the universe and the earth, trying to give voice to the colors as the Nature teaches us.

Afterwards the painter evolves and adopts a new artistic style and a new pictorial technique - cutting the color with the spatula. By working with oil colors on plaster bases, he gives voice to the native spirit of his land and also to his personal spiritual rebirth.

Experiencing the dissolution of colors and the excess of material, in his artworks, the painter lets the unconscious talk, constantly putting Nature, which has always fascinated and inspired his creations, in the foreground.

Tommaso Costanzo feels the need to narrate the creation of man and the divinities associated with him. First, telling the story of the deities, who in the archaic era embarked on the journey from the fertile Crescent to infiltrate the Mediterranean sea, bringing knowledge to the man. Subsequently, the tale of the artist takes shape and movement by narrating of Etruscan and Thracian mythology.

More in detail, the artist represents the divinities in the form of a cloud, as did the guardians of knowledge (rabbis) in the cabalistic representation of Jawe. So doing the artist tries to transmit through the motion of the oil on the panel that vibration and that divine pathos that illuminated the wise Middle Eastern nights. With his determined way of loading colors, Tommaso Costanzo communicates the true sense of belief. For example, a particular detail is the vibration of the blue color around the planets (which are represented by extraordinary simplicity), which transmits the magnetism of the celestial bodies.

In addition, the works of the artist are full of cryptic stories, of hidden figures in landscapes - a real gnostic code with a significant esoteric value; the apex of this hermeticism is reached in the work "The tree of knowledge" and also in the last works created with an oxidized and forged copper foil. In this artworks are represented dances of therianthropic figures, which are developed with an innovative technique: the melting of silver, lead and tin, so as to recall the primordial alchemy of the elements.

In the sculptural artworks the inspiring source is mostly the "Enuma elish", the tale of Babylonian Creation.

ARTISTIC TECHNIQUES

Techniques used by Tommaso Costanzo are manifold with a continuous unrestrainable alchemical experimentation.

We can find the color cutting with spatula - by working oil with plaster bases or wax bases on wooden panel - or the forging of copper and brass - by using silver, tin and lead - or also mixed technique: forged copper foil, gold leaf, oil and plaster worked with a blue or red pigment.

Regarding the sculptural part, the artist has as a great teacher the Nature surrounding him. The use of the chisel on the wooden forms is dictated by the movement of the grain and knots of the wood. The wood chosen by the artist is cypress or sometimes beech, coming from the hills close to the artist's residence.