Michele Circiello was born in Rocchetta Sant’Antonio, near Foggia, on November 23, 1944.
He still lives and works in Foggia. He studied at the Art Institute of Foggia and the Academy of Fine Arts in Milan.
He was a student of the master Cantatore and debuted in the 1970s with traditional painting – figurative painting in which represent scenes of daily life and problems of his land. His focus was on the human vitality of a small town, at the bottom of the Appenino mountain range, and the killing off of those moral, poetic and sentimental values which are typical of the place.
His artistic turning point came when he focused on the heavy social and economic crisis affecting the Daunian counties (his paintings are true documents of social unease and a report of the environment reality); it was a crisis that forced men and women to give up and abandon the fruitless labour of the fields. From the canvas of his paintings, the vague and tired eyes of women are distinct as are their melancholy faces (for their husbands and sons are far away) and heroic waiting for their return and a decent moral strength.
He was appointed as Professor in Vieste for the school year 1973/74 and it was there that he soon became fascinated by the Gargano region and its nature with cavernous rocks, its thick mantle of trees and the immensity of its horizons to the transcendent dimension which can be taken in when the eye subtly shifts from the sea to the sky.
The atmosphere is mystical: the cave of the Archangel Michael and the prior pagan cults are a clear testimony to this.
The Gargano region is a repository of traces of prehistory: the Paglicci cave is among one of the most important Paleolithic sites in Europe.
During the winter and spring afternoons, Michele Ciriciello became a nomad; observing untouched nature, he was a keen observer of the signs of plant life and thus, became a trace hunter of time and man. He reported the landscape features of the Gargano on canvas and the stories of prehistoric men hunting.
Then, no longer satisfied with the representing the reality of the Gargano, he intervened on rock, proposing the art of gesture. With chalks and markers, along the length of the crack, he drew little men, fading the gray calcareous stone and thereby creating the “stone photo”.
At the same time, his canvases were enhanced in terms of material: his technique became mixed, incorporating sand, pebbles and fragments of the area. This phase is called “Garganica”.
The bond with his territory became closer; Circiello searched, researched and found traces of prehistoric and protohistoric man, thus were born his canvases inspired by the Sipontine ones of the National Museum in Mandfredonia.
His search continued, this time directed on the troglodyte man and the Middle Ages; it was then, that he discovered the decaying churches with their solemn icons which had unfortunately faded away by moisture and mould. This discovery resulted in the birth of his icons and curvilinear lunettes which are not so much about the sacred images, as much as the poetry of their relic state.
Circiello has exhibited in galleries in many Italian cities and has participated in numerous art exhibitions.
Exhibitions
1970
Pro Loco – Siponto (FG)
Galleria Il Triendro – Milano
1973
Galleria Il Ricciolo – Milano
1974
Studio d’Arte 3 ½ – Foggia
1977
Centro Turistico Gattarella – Vieste (FG)
Galleria AR – Lucera (FG)
Galleria Sala d’Arte 14 – Piacenza
Galleria Illiria – Foggia
1978
Centro Turistico Gatarella – Vieste (FG)
Piccola Galleria, Pesaro
Galleria AR – Lucera (FG)
1979
Centro Turistico Gatarella – Vieste (FG)
Piccola Galleria, Pesaro
1980
Pro Loco – Bisceglie (BA)
Palazzo del Turismo – Senigallia (AN)
Sala Grigia, Palazzetto dell’Arte – Foggia
1981
Centro Turistico Gattarella – Vieste (FG)
Biblioteca Comunale – Vieste (FG)
Palazzo Comunale Baviera – Sanigallia (AN)
Museo Civico Palazzo d’Avalos – Troia (FG)
1982
Palazzo Celestini – Manfredonia (FG)
Biblioteca Comunale – Monte S. Angelo (FG)
Pro Loco – Siponto (FG)
Sannicandro Garganico
1983
Palazzo Dogana – Foggia
Galleria Velleri – Foggia
Pro Loco – Pietramontecorvino (FG)
Galleria Comunale – San Severo (FG)
Pugnochiuso – Vieste (FG)
1984
Pro Loco – Pietramontecorvino (FG)
Museo civico – Monte S. Angelo (FG)
Peschici (FG)
Museo Civico Palazzo d’Avalos – Troia (FG)
Hotel Gargano – Manfredonia (FG)
Pro Loco – Orta Nova (FG)
1985
Palazzo Dogana – Foggia
Peschici – Foggia
Vieste – Foggia
Museo Civico – Monte S. Angelo (FG)
Rodi Garganico (FG)
Palazzo Celestini – Manfredonia (FG)
Studio d’Amico – San Severo (FG)
1986
Museo Civico Palazzo d’Avalos – Troia (FG)
1986-87
Studio d’Arte Aura Rupestre – Foggia
1988
Aeroporto Amendola – Foggia
Museo Civico – Foggia
Ipogei Paleocristani della Salata – Vieste (FG)
Agorà – Larino (CB)
L’Ariete – Bologna
1989
Centro Arte – Termoli
1990-91-92-93-94-95-96-97
Ipogei Paleocristani della Salata – Vieste (FG)
1990
Centro d’Arte Alfred Stieglitz – Modena
Centro Arpi Arte – Foggia
1990
Galleria Civica d’Arte – Modena
Palazzo dei Diamanti – Ferrara
1991
Sala grigia Palazzetto dell’Arte – Foggia
Galleria Ester – Milano / Bari
Pinacoteca Comunale – Macerata
Galleria Il giardino dell’Arte – Bologna
Galleria Cristalda – Foggia
Galleria Civica d’Arte – Modena
Palazzo dei Diamanti – Ferrara
Galleria Gabriel – Vienna (AUSTRIA)
1992
Galleria Fluxia – Chiavari
1994
Galleria Licandro – Vienna (AUSTRIA)
1996
Dal Big Bang al Monolito – Fiera di Foggia
1996
Galleria Aura Rupestre – Foggia
1997
Galleria Magenta – Magenta (MI)
Galleria Aura Rupestre – Foggia
1999
Galleria Artstudio – Portomaggiore (FE)
Galleria Mike Siebler – Puttlingen (GERMANIA)
2000
Gini Gallery – Milano
Centenari – Milano
2001
Sala Grigia, Palazzetto dell’Arte – Foggia
Artequadri – Camposanpietro (FE)
Art Gallery – Alba Adriatica (TE)
2002
Art Gallery – San Benedetto del Tronto (AP)
Afentaki Asimins Conta – Nea Smirni Atene (GRECIA)
Kreiss COllection Ibrahim Radwan Trading Est – Jeddah (ARABIA SAUDITA)
2003
Art Galleria – S. Egidio alla Vibrata (TE)
Arte Dimensione Edizioni – Foggia
Metropolitan International Arte – Lecce
Niselli Arte – Bassano del Grappa (VI)
Hermanos Gonzales Alconada – Santiago de Compostela (SPAGNA)
Lec Co. Ltd – Santa City (GIAPPONE)
2004
Elegants Art – Instanbul (TURCHIA)
Lec carrelet d’Or, Nancy (FRANCIA)
2005
Picma Arte – Verona
“Segni – Umberto Mastroianni / Tracce – Michele Circiello” Galleria Aura Rupestre – Vieste (FG)
Villa Palladiana – Caldogno (VI)
Galleria l’Incantatore – Roma
Galleria Valeno – Foggia
Art et Metiers – Metz (FRANCIA)
Galleria Tyani – Dortmund (GERMANIA)
2006
Galleria Magenta – Magenta (MI)
2007
Expo Arte – Bari
Castel dell’Ovo – Napoli
Galleria Alte Kirche – Harkingen (SVIZZERA)
Galleria Tyani – Dortmund (GERMANIA)
Galleria Zeugma – Colonia (GERMANIA)
2008
Villa Pisani – Stra (VE)
Parlamento del Cantone – Lucerna (SVIZZERA)
