Continuously Different Kisses, Mario Madiai’s personal exhibition.

Studio 74 by Galleria Fidanda presents Continuously Different Kisses, a solo exhibition by Mario Madiai (Siena, 1944), which will be inaugurated on Friday, April 17, 2026 at 6 pm at the venue on Via Leonardo Cambini 30, in Livorno. The exhibition will be open to the public until Saturday, June 27, 2026. The works stem from the artist’s desire to surpass the idea of painting as an individual act, approaching it towards the collaborative dimension of music. Madiai reworks images from art history, intervening in works of great masters to create a dialogue between different eras and styles. The theme of the kiss thus becomes a symbol of meeting and fusion: not only between the depicted figures, but also between artists distant in time. The works on display give rise to a continuous creative exchange, where the concept of authorship opens up to new possibilities of comparison and sharing. Through his recognizable pictorial language, Madiai explores the intimacy of the kiss, constructing images suspended and loaded with emotional tension, restraint, and silence. The canvases are articulated in different dimensions and chromatic ranges: some are entirely conceived by the artist, others arise from a direct reworking of iconic images, giving rise to a lively dialogue between past and present. The work is not simply cited, but crossed, experienced, and transformed. The kiss thus becomes the central metaphor of this process: an act of union, exchange, and mutual transformation between different sensitivities, languages, and times.

Biography – Mario Madiai was born in Siena in 1944 and attended the Passaglia Institute of Art in Lucca, where he showed an early vocation for painting. Coming from a post-macchiaioli background, he developed an autonomous and sensitive language from the beginning. In 1961, at only seventeen, he won the Spalletta Prize in Livorno, attracting the attention of established artists. In the sixties and seventies, he stood out in the main national exhibitions with a painting characterized by a strong poetic tension and a reflection on the relationship between surface and depth. His trip to Persia in 1972 was fundamental, leading to the cycle of Persian paintings, followed by numerous series dedicated to interiors, landscapes, and cities. Between the seventies and eighties, he created significant cycles such as The Uncontainable Energy, views of Venice, Tribute to Piero Ciampi, the Countryside and the Tables of Memory. Central to his research is also the theme of Roses, developed through continuous chromatic and compositional variations. Since 2001, he has also dedicated himself to a contemporary reinterpretation of The Adventures of Pinocchio, publishing a story through images. Since 2006, he has lived and worked in the countryside of Lorenzana, in the province of Pisa, where he combines painting with winemaking. Madiai has been collaborating regularly for three years with the Fidanda Art Gallery, which offers a wide selection of the Master’s works and hosts solo exhibitions.