Mario Caciotti
Tuscan Artist

They call him, “Genius Loci,” or Local Genius and an Italian Van Gogh. Mario Caciotti has been living and working in Sesto Fiorentino, adjacent to Florence, for fifty years. He lives to paint, painting with a passion all his own, and paints to live. His style is strong of stroke, color and meaning. One gets the feeling when viewing his work that he flies through paint, the impasto is so thick and rich with emotion! Indeed, he has been painting the land, humanity, the plight and ferocity of the animal, portraits of family members as well as the insane, and religious subjects that touch his soul. His paintings speak a universal language that communicate to all who bear witness to his keen, strong, emotional and spiritually charged work.

He paints with heart those things that are closest to him. He has been a purveyor of good deeds and measures for those who have happened across his path, feeding, sheltering and caring for homeless individuals. They, on the other hand in an effort to reciprocate, served as models for some of his most compelling religious work. As time passed and Mario came to know and love the wandering and destitute Guiliano and Robertino; he saw in them Christ and St. Francis. Because of his deep spiritual observations, Mario was able, through paint, to describe ultimate suffering. Guiliano and Robertino, through their enduring hardships, became the images Mario portrayed.

His colors had been true to the Tuscan browns, golds and earth tones until brilliant reds swept him away when he attended a Fauvist Exhibit in Florence. This was a turning point to say the least, and one that presented a reason to use such charged colors. His subject matter took on: the plight of the bull in the Spanish bull fight; the similar plight of the cock in the cock fight arena; certain town and cityscapes; his portraits of the insane; and ultimately, The Crucifixion. This almost violent use of blood-reds, applied with equal if not exceeding exuberance, takes the viewer to another level.

Herein, we give you Mario Caciotti, father of a large and beautiful family, the “Genius Loci” who works from his heart in his large Tuscan studio and the neighboring countryside. Here too, he is surrounded by the pictures that tell the story of the vibrant forces churning within his soul!

--Sandra Loewy