Mariano Pietrini
was born in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, in the province of Messina.A multifaceted artist, difficult to pigeonhole into a well-defined style or current, in his forty-yearcareer he has created more than two thousand works.
Raised in one of the oldest neighborhoods of Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto, he spent his youth in contact with various artisan workshops, “stealing” the secrets of the trade with his eyes. In his free time he played football for his hometown team, another great passion of his.
After graduating as a surveyor, obtained in 1964, he graduated in Economics and Commerce at the University of Messina. He taught applied mathematics in the technical institutes of the province and at the same time worked as an accountant.
In 1973 he married Gisella, a caring and loving wife, with whom he had three children: Ada, Veralisa and Nino.
Painter, sculptor – but also poet and writer – Mariano Pietrini was a self-taught artist, convinced that man had infinite potential “when he immersed himself in the Light”.
His theories, such as order in disorder, the Law of Contrasts and the Theory of Beauty, permeate his life and his artistic production.
His creative process is complex and often unpredictable, with a starting point always represented by a pad of paper. This block is used to “photograph” sensations and suggestions, subsequently reworked to obtain the most appropriate expressive form.
Mariano ranges from three-dimensional painting to color on color, from sculpture to papier-mâché, from art restorations to impressive “creations” such as the Jalari Museum Park. This work, conceived and created together with his brother Salvatore, is a crossroads of art, history and ethnography, overlooking the Barcelona hills. Over time, the Jalari project involves the entire Pietrini family, becoming a cultural point of reference in the region.
Jalari is a mystical, philosophical, artistic, energetic path, a microcosm that he himself had renamed “The talking mountain”, “The Pyramid of Light of the Third Millennium”. The Park Museum is the work of him and his brother Salvatore, creator of all the architecture of the site. In the meantime, the Jalari project involved the entire Pietrini family: children and grandchildren who, day after day, with commitment, nourish this great creative and thought school, a cultural reference point for our region.
Mariano Pietrini has exhibited in Rome, Turin, Bardonecchia (To), Granada, Buenos Aires, in the United States – in Jackson and New Orleans – and throughout Sicily. An island that he loved for the strength of its volcanoes, for its fiery sunsets, for its tireless ability to create, dialogue with beauty, with stones, with echoes. “The talking stones of Jalari – he always said – are the symbol of man’s creative strength when he immerses himself in the Light”..
In 2001, the Telethon Foundation chose one of his sculptures to reward the municipality of Fidenza (Pr), which in that edition had identified itself as the most supportive city in Italy. Also prolific in writing, Pietrini boasts around thirty publications. Books and brochures, written between 1979 and 2015, from which it is possible to reconstruct, stage by stage, his exciting artistic journey.