Massimo Tizzano Zuigan is an Italian painter mainly inspired by the works of Old Masters painters such as Titian, Rembrandt, Caravaggio and many other Ancient Masters.
He has been drawing and painting since he was a child, but he began his formal education in the visual arts field only much later in life, with the practice of Japanese calligraphy (Shodo) under the guidance of Sensei Norio Nagayama from whom he received the name Oto Mi and the qualification to teach the principles of this noble art.
After 8 years of practice with Indian ink and rice paper, he began painting with oils and began studying the painting techniques of the Italian and Flemish masters of the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries as self-taught.
In 2010 he met the work of Odd Nerdrum and in 2012 he was selected to become his studio assistant in Norway, where he was able to deepen his painting technique and the understanding of kitsch philosophy related to the history of art.
Tizzano has been operating in the artistic and cultural sector for over ten years, dealing with the creation and reproduction of works of art according to traditional painting techniques, the preparation of themed exhibitions, as well as the organization of practical theoretical courses related to the ancient traditional techniques of oil painting.
In particular, Tizzano is known for making art copies of the most beloved Masters of the most flourishing and significant period of Western painting (14th / 17th century: Leonardo, Caravaggio, Ver Meer, Rembrandt, Perugino, Cagnacci, etc.). The copies, faithfully realized according to the techniques and materials of the time, boast national and international awards and admirers.
To his credit, he includes exhibitions in prestigious contexts and public recognition by critics, newspapers and international film productions (in 2017 he is contacted and interviewed by the chief editor of Rai Parlamento, for an episode aired on Rai 1 in the ambit of "7 giorni" program: in 2016 he is specifically reached in its study in Italy by the troupe of the Norwegian production documentary film "The hunt of Odd Nerdrum" for an interview).
The quality and quantity of Tizzano's production as a copyist constitutes a unique cultural heritage. The exhibits set up enclose some of the greatest and most famous masterpieces of Baroque-Renaissance painting, thus allowing the visitor an experience that is impossible to experience otherwise, that is admiring in a single context museum-quality reproductions of works of art to see which would be needed to go around the world. These are works carried out by hand and without the aid of any optical device except his eyes, retracing the compositional process of the originals themselves.
Vittorio Sgarbi, one of the most accredited and influent Italian art historian, defined him as one of the best copyists in circulation.
His work retraces step by step the recipes and phases of the work in use in the Renaissance laboratories: Tizzano maniacally prepares his own canvases and wooden supports, composes and applies the primers himself, grinds the colours by hand and realizes mediums and paints according to ancient formulas, with particular attention to the specific techniques of each Master.
Tizzano's paintings are collected in several important collections in Italy, Europe and the United States.
Additional informations:
After classical studies (Liceo C. Marchesi in Padova) and then Commercial and Economics in Bologna, Massimo attended the " High musical training courses "at the Institute C. Pollini in Padova (degree in Ethnomusicology) and at the Cini Foundation (Venice) where he learned to play the Sitar, Tabla and Indian singing following the courses under Pandit Shvnath Mishra, Paolo Avanzo, Ustad Said Parvez Khan, Pandit Shanka Chatterjee, Lorenzo Danieletto and Amelia Cuni.
Tizzano practices since 1997 Rinzai Zen meditation at the Temple ZENSHINJI - School Linchi Chan (Rinzai Zen) founded by Engaku Taino, from whom received the monk name Zuigan and the teaching qualification of master of Zen meditation.
Solo shows:
- "The style of the Old Masters", Cosenza, National Library, patronized by the Italian Ministry of Fine Arts, January 2011.
- "Non fermaArti" , Cosenza, monumental complex of S. Augustine, Museum of Brettii and Enotri .
- "Imagine", the Council Room of the Del Trono Palace, Cetraro.
- "Solo L'Eternità", Palazzo della Corgna Città della Pieve, 4/2016
- "Santi: vite morti e miracoli", Palazzo Gentilli, Sanseverino Marche, 7/2016
- "Cuore Sacro", Palazzo del Trono, Cetraro, 7/2016
- "The European roots of Modern Painting", Palazzo San Bernardino, Rossano, 5/2017
- "Grandi Antichi", Ex Convento dei Gesuiti, Paola, 12/2017 - 2/2018
- "Grand Prix Maxima Artes Prize Federich II Hohenstaufen" - Chateau Suabe - Cosenza, 12/2019
- "Artexpo 2019", Complesso monumentale di S. Domenico - Cosenza, 01/2020
- "Permanente dell'Arte Contemporanea", Palais Falcone & Prince Sanseverino Di Bisignano - Acri - Cosenza, 1/2020.
Books.
- " A brief note on the St. John of Leonardo da Vinci", published in "The Goblet revealed " by G. Montera for the types of Prodinnova Publisher.
- " Ku " (Emptiness), calligraphy published in " The body-conscious. Arts of the East and the integration of adult life. A contribution to an intercultural phenomenology", S. Giammusso, Mimesis editor.
- "Tributes to the Old Masters", Signed catalogue of Old Masters Tributes of selected works between 2009 and 2018, insights on the work as a copyist, interviews and 2 essays on two Caravaggio's masterworks:
Museum:
- A permanent exhibit of the "Collezione Zuigan Tizzano", a collection of 33 old masters copies of masterworks dated between the XV and the XVII centuries, will be on display until October 2017 in the Museo dei Brettii e del mare, Palazzo del Trono II floor, Cetraro (CS).
"Permanente dell'Arte Contemporanea", Palais Falcone & Prince Sanseverino Di Bisignano - Acri - Cosenza