Personal Background. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Sicignano has painted since childhood. After graduating from Pratt Institute in 1981, he abandoned painting to pursue other professional and personal interests. While living in Europe in the late 1980’s,he rekindled his interest in art and resumed painting in the 1990’s.
Style. Sicignano’s artistic heritage is the natural, post rock-and-roll evolution of 20th century American painting begun by artists from the Group of Eight, the Ashcan school and Edward Hopper. His work expresses both the dynamism and complexities of modern urban life, which he portrays in a contemporary, realist style. The intensity of his colors and his striking use of light and shadow infuse his paintings with drama and passion. His cityscapes, for which he is well known, literally radiate with the exuberance and energy of city life. His bold use of color has become his signature trademark, expressing his undying optimism and voracity for life, while providing a unique and fresh look at some familiar places. Sicignano’s vision is clearly American, even when depicting foreign venues.
Subject Matter. Sicignano believes that any expression of the human condition is the only valid basis for art. His own intense optimism and passion for beauty and life are certainly the foundations and driving force behind his painting, as well as the common themes that link his work. These expressions manifest themselves in two categories of subjects that comprise the bulk of his work: Urban Portraits (cityscapes that characterize the personality of a location) and Living Portraits of people and animals. In either case, Sicignano possesses a keen eye for selecting subject matter that exudes a human quality. He captures a deep and powerful expression of a city’s underlying humanity and character, even when painting inanimate objects such as buildings and storefronts. But regardless of the subject, the paintings contain a strong emotional response from the artist, exposing his own sentiment and passion which is the foundation of his inspiration.
Key Elements of the Work. Sicignano’s choice of subject matter and his method of depiction provide valuable insight and understanding as to whom he is as an artist. His paintings are a visual and emotional diary of his life and the evolution of his artistic expression has become progressively more autobiographical over time.
Humor. Sicignano portrays the plain, commonplace and offbeat as honorable and even virtuous. His interpretive rendering are often poetic and frequently even humorous, but not in a pejorative manner. He treats humor with respect, as something of value to be appreciated. This is evident in his “Harlem Series,” in paintings such as the “Recovery Room” which depicts a local bar that invites people to come in and “recover” from the slings and arrows of everyday life. The painting include other details, such as a sign declaring that the bar is private property and that the owner pays taxes to the City, hinting that there is an ongoing bureaucratic battle.
Conceptual Elements; Symmetry. Sicignano does not support the common assertion in conceptual art that posits that physical form is not essential in the presentation of concepts; that the concept itself is the starting point for a work of art. Conversely, he asserts that an artist can combine concepts and physical form that transcend into representational renderings of beauty and expression. Sicignano ultimately believes that beauty and emotion are the essential elements of human existence, and therefore, are the essential elements of art. For him, these considerations are infinitely more important than expanding the boundaries or art. Another “conceptual’ elements in Sicignano’s work is the use of symmetry. The laws of nature are based upon the existence of patterns that link one state of affairs to another; and where there is pattern, there is symmetry. However, we never witness the laws of nature themselves, only their outcomes, and interestingly, the symmetries that the laws enshrine are broken in those outcomes. It is when these symmetries are broken that the diversity and complexity in nature become apparent. The same holds true in painting, where perfectly symmetrical compositions would seem rather banal and uninteresting. Realizing this, Sicignano composes many of his paintings with an innate understanding as to how an interruption in symmetry can provide the necessary spark for igniting a simple rendering into a vibrant interpretation. An example of this is the different color door on the brownstones in “Broken Symmetry; Brooklyn” or the slightly off-center position of the whale in “Deep Blue.” Elements that break symmetry often stimulate compositions and bring paintings to life.
Mystery. Many of Sicignano’s paintings have a hidden, mysterious quality where the subject of the painting may be an elaborate shadow or a reflection in water of an object that does not actually appear in the painting. Choosing such subjects, Sicignano once again illustrates his ability to identify subjects that capture human emotion and the “essence” of the people or places he paints. This ability is evident in several of his Venice paintings, where the beauty and charm of the city are not his main focus. He is more concerned with revealing the mystery of Venice through colorful, unique views of the city’s architecture that are experienced twice in these compositions –directly and then again in the reflections in the canals.
