Fabio Modica was born in Catania, Sicily, in 1978. During his academic years he was inspired by the classical Renaissance and Greek and Latin mythology. As a painter, his first major subject was the human figure wrapped up in a Caravaggesque light, with oil paint as his favourite medium. His versatile spirit has encouraged him to incorporate different styles and mediums into his later works, which show a departure from the earlier representational style. Over time, Modica’s enduring realism has gradually yielded to the compelling drive for sheer lines and thick smudges of colour, which has ultimately led him towards a semi-abstracted texture. Modica has also grown a genuine passion for nude art, which has inspired a series of monochromatic paintings on the commodification of the human body and its spiritual decay entitled “Mercification”. Here, the absence of colour enables him to rely entirely on the force of his brushstroke and the gesture of scratching and carving the pictorial surface. Modica’s distinctive trait is seen in the ‘multi-layered coats of vibrant paint spread over a tortured canvas with vigorous spatula strokes. His most celebrated works are close-in portraits of female faces whose gaze pierces directly through the viewer. The meaning of everything is condensed in faces, especially in the eyes. Modica’s ‘faces’ shape fragments of memories, enigmatic moods, and modernist “moments of being”. They have become part of two parallel series named “Gnosis” (i.e.‘knowledge’ in Greek) and “Prisoners of Matter”, both internationally acclaimed since 2013. Modica believes that art is the most effective means to enhance self-awareness. The “Gnosis” series captures individuals experiencing a state of epiphany and self-revelation, which suddenly generates a truly eye-opening emotional experience. In the “Prisoners of Matter” series, the subjects are constrained within the material world, symbolised by the painting “matter”, in which Modica skilfully catches a brief instant of illumination. The artist currently lives and works in Catania.