Giuseppe Barilaro – born in Catanzaro on July 16, 1988 – studied at the Istituto d’Arte of San Giovanni in Fiore and earned his degree at the Academy of Fine Arts of Catanzaro in 2017, specializing in Decoration.

Even earlier, in 2012, he exhibited at the Palazzo Ducale in Maierà, Cosenza.
That same year, he was selected by Andrea Romoli Barberini and Wang Lin to exhibit in Xi’An, China.

In 2015, he exhibited for the international prize Limen Arte and took part in the Venice Biennale in the painting workshop Il solco dipinto.

In 2017, he held solo exhibitions in Rome, Milan, and Livorno.
These were the years of the explosive emergence of red, created through mixtures of resins, glues, and pigments, undergoing conceptual metamorphoses, subjected to combustion, in pursuit of the essence of matter.

He has exhibited in galleries all over the world — from Iran and China, to New York — a city where he received the prestigious recognition of having two works acquired by a museum.

In 2022, from February to March, he held a solo exhibition at the San Giovanni Monumental Complex, entitled L’oblio dei Corpi (The Oblivion of Bodies), curated by Lorenzo Canova.
The event, despite the limitations of the pandemic, reached remarkable numbers in terms of visitors and social engagement.

His modus operandi favors the manipulation of “virgin” materials, both resistant and malleable, to trace upon the very matter the path of life.
It is with wood, influenced by these qualities, that he has established an imprint still present today.

In his works, it would be reductive to approach the study of forms without considering their correlation with “substance,” the true protagonist of the work itself.

The interventions the artist carries out on the body of the support include: the combustion of wood, scraping, and engraving; the treatment with burnt acrylics, aimed at revealing the soul, energy, and past of the traced figure.

His obsessive search for a truth hidden beneath the skin and beyond appearances — transcending a binary prejudice tied to our beliefs — manifests itself primarily in an academic sense.

This is evident in the paradoxical representation of a Christ Exposed to Confession, a work
that earned him first place in the National Arts Award – MIUR, Painting section.

Over time, the artist has distanced himself from a “narrative” style, favoring elementary, almost archaic, forms and compositions that evoke the firmness and sacredness typical of icons.
Contrasting this softness, a blow is inflicted upon the support — more brutal and decisive — eviscerating a hidden truth.

The outcome of the works is a true dialogue between the self and its peculiarities, within a constant and redundant conflict, that remains inexhaustible over time.

He currently lives and works in Carrara.