Source: 900 Letterario

The first noteworthy pictorial works in Catania date back to 1995, when the artist expressed his creativity during the school hours dedicated to drawing, demonstrating a particular aptitude at the same time for perspective studies and for informal – abstract graphics.
In 1998 he enrolled in the engineering faculty where he perfected his studies of perspective and axonometry and where he learned to observe the problems and the reality that surround him by breaking down all the figures into simple three-dimensional polygons. This ability to decompose and model the solids that surround him is found in his paintings, capable of expressing reality and feelings both with overlapping two-dimensional planes (see for example the paintings “144: Jazz Terzetto” – 2014 , “Nice homage to Matisse and Chagall” – 2015) that with the elegant and harmonious approach of solid and curvilinear figures (such as in the painting “Summer readings homage to Pierluigi Nervi” – 2016). In addition to a strong aptitude for both technical and artistic sciences, Cesare Catania matured over the years a particular passion for photography. In particular, his attention is captured by the colors and the camera’s ability to capture all the strength and dynamism of moving scenes in a single shot. The same attraction to dynamism can easily be seen in many of his paintings, both in formal and informal and abstract ones. In his “ La Violinista di Barcellona – B Version” – 2016 for example, the author portrays the protagonist just like in a photo shoot in which the orchestra and the background disappear to give way to a musician eccentric and in motion immortalized in a strong and intense still image.

The studies of mathematics and engineering together with the passion for art in general give life to works that harmonize sculpture and painting. In the paintings of Catania, tradition (use of materials such as plaster, wood, stone, oil paint) and innovation (use of scraps, silicone and acrylic based materials) merge. All this to give life to three-dimensional works that “literally come out of the canvas”.
Cesare Catania in fact often prepares his canvases with real projects and static studies, in order to make a complete and lasting adhesion to the canvas. fragile and difficult to handle material such as gypsum. The latter in many of his paintings is armed with nails and nets to follow the pattern of the drawing, highlighting the author’s ability to blend creativity and the ability to rationalize and break down the figures in the painting. In the “Lisbon Zoo” , for example, the author portrays animals such as the elephant, the giraffe and the bull in a superimposed view. These, made of plaster and painted with strong acrylic colors, fill the scene on 3 superimposed levels and in a dynamic way.
Cesare Catania’s paintings are a “still image” of actions and feelings, an extreme synthesis between hermeticism and care in detail.
Fascinated by modern art, architecture, cubism and the pictorial masters of the classical age, Cesare Catania’s artistic maturity is still in constant evolution; always looking for new techniques to best express his inspirations.