An artist who embodies all the beauty and energy of his city, Taormina, and of the many cultures that have influenced it, from the Greeks to the Arabs, each sedimenting legends, styles, works of art; those same suggestions that give life to his personal sacred symbolism that praises life and Nature.
Located in the center of Taormina, entering Alessandro Florio’s atelier is like immersing yourself in the past, present and future essence of Sicily, seen through the breath of his beautiful soul.
Since he was a child, as for any other “true” artist, creation has been an act of necessity, which he began to give vent to through music, as a guitarist in a band, then as a successful tattoo artist with his visionary Puto Amor Tattoo Studio, where he began his experimentation with symbolism and the “divine”.
I am a devourer of canvases; my production circuit is fueled day by day by iconic and sacred images.
(Alessandro Florio)
The call to try his hand at larger canvases came during a visit to the Louvre in Paris, struck by the sacred images of the great masters, and when he returned to Sicily he began to paint.
His pictorial art is a movement of the soul, of his thoughts and his beliefs, a world made of leopards, the ones that enchanted him in the Palatine Chapel of the Royal Palace of Palermo, of cirnechi, a dog breed born in Sicily that the legend he is believed to descend from the God Anubis, of donkeys, the animal symbol of work that ennobles man, and of proud lions.
A hymn to the beauty of nature, the Divine, in which its wonderful blooms are a metaphor for immortality and the meaning of life, and to the symbols of Sicily contaminated with the cultures that fascinate him during his travels around the world. The figures are deliberately two-dimensional to give greater strength to what they represent.
And if the artist’s first source of inspiration was Taormina, today it is the whole city that speaks a bit about him; you meet him in art places, such as the Casa del Cinema which in 2022 dedicated a personal exhibition to him curated by the Taormina Arte Sicilia Foundation, in its grand hotels, such as the Grand Hotel Timeo and Villa Sant’Andrea of the Belmond group, and in its icons, such as the very famous Morgana, for which he created site-specific works.
His recent collaborations have seen growing interest overseas, such as his latest guest appearance at Gitano during Art Basel Miami, and from luxury brands including Fragonard, with whom he created a splendid toiletry line.
It’s difficult not to fall in love with his works, especially if the inspiration is the marvelous Taormina, defined by Goethe as “the greatest masterpiece of art and nature”, suspended between the blue sea and the sacred mountain of Etna.
The Secret
At the beginning Alessandro painted for himself and did not want to separate himself from his creations with which he has a visceral connection; only once he understood that art must be shared in order for it to flourish, he began to accept a few highly selected commissioned works.
Useful Info
Alessandro Florio
Via Giovanni di Giovanni 44
98039 Taormina, Messina
Tel. +39 320 0844001
florioalessandro@hotmail.com
Visit to the Taormina atelier by reservation
