Works of Italian artist Umberto Mariani exhibited in Florence (11)

MILAN, April 25, 2016 -- Mariani fixes the lead sheet on the board at his studio in Milan, Italy, on April 13, 2016. Italian artist Umberto Mariani lives and works at a loft in a former factory in Milan. Mariani, who will turn 80 at the end of this year, is best known for his multidimensional folds of fabric carved out of lead sheets. During the 1960s, Mariani picked up his first projects doing monumental narrative work for the St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City as well as mosaics and frescos, but the classical Greek statues that he grew up observing on the streets of Italy had the most profound influences on his work. "In 1974, I started to make paintings where the fold and drapery were the absolute protagonists," he told Xinhua. "If you thumb through an art history book, you will see that drapery takes 80 percent of the painted or sculptured surfaces." By the 1990s he gave up painting, and up to now in his laboratory new ideas, shapes and colors come out incessantly from lead. He underlined that true artworks require study besides passion. The advice that he gives young artists is not to wait for inspiration, as all the best ideas come out of the work itself. "This is how things went for all the great artists of the past, whose masterpieces such as The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, just to make an example, were often made on commission and resulted from deep commitment," he said. (Xinhua/Jin Yu)