Roberto Caracciolo Biography
Roberto Caracciolo is an artist born in the United States in 1960 with Neapolitan and French origins. He studied at the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales, the Urbino Art Institute in Italy and the New York Studio School. He has exhibited his works in galleries such as Galleria Valeria Belvedere and Grossetti Arte Contemporanea in Milan, Galleria André Emmerich and Loretta Howard Gallery in New York, and various other galleries in Italy, Europe and the United States. Since 2007, Caracciolo has taught at Temple University in Rome, collaborating with the MFA program, and also teaches at John Cabot University in Rome and the School of Visual Arts Rome program.
Caracciolo focuses primarily on the transcendental, using his art to reveal the false dichotomy between abstraction and figuration, calling into question the human spirit. His creative process is simple and precise, with no secrets kept in the execution of the work, every detail is visible in the raw process of painting. The viewer is invited to witness the precise way in which the oil paint sits on the canvas and how the watercolor stains and enters the texture of the paper. Attention is captured and held by delicate streaks and infinite calibrated tonal gradations and colors that seem to exist independently, like stones in a Japanese garden.
Caracciolo is attracted to nature and its representation in art and poetry, something he sees as a guide and aid in his work. He particularly loves reading poetry and drawing energy from it, from which an idea arises which ultimately becomes the origin of an image. Like Paul Celan, Caracciolo is a poet of refined tone, touch and proportion, extolling an ancient craft he considers sacred. The colors and vibrations that emanate from Caracciolo's works invite contemplation and silence.
