User:ArtWorldInfo/Cesare Barro

Cesare Arrigo Barro (born 19 November 1953), commonly known as Cesare Barro, is an Italian artist and jeweler. He is globally acknowledged as an important exponent of the international contemporary art community, although remaining for most of his life away from the limelight, and refraining from releasing his works to the greater public. As a result of the outburst of talent and intellect of the pop and hip 1970s and 1980s, he was a fruit of the circles of prominent figures of the art world, of grand names such as those of Salvador Dali and his wife Gala, Andy Warhol and other names that characterized the various art movements of the world in the 20th Century.

Barro is known for having traveled the world while engaging in various professional roles, always revolving around the artistic realm. He began as an actor in Italian cinema, followed by works as a model, collaborating with photographers of the level of Steven Klein, Giovanni Gastel, and Bruce Weber among others.

His love and passion for Greece and its culture led him to settle on the island of Tinos for thirteen years, in the village of Smardakito. Becoming a renown presence on the island and in the Greek capital, he spent his time meeting prominent and influential figures of the European high society, as well as working on his paintings, sculptures, and other works. Barro was mainly involved in the preservation and total reconstruction/decoration of the village and its communal areas, allowing it to become, still today, a location recalled for its beauty and aesthetic. Following that, he began traveling the United States designing jewelry, first as a passion, and subsequently turning it into a successful business with private exhibitions and an extremely premier client list.

In 2009 he decided to return to Greece, to Athens this time, to work on a new project dedicated to his lifelong passion, the Greek language. In October 2010, his first public exhibition Eimarmeni opened, a month-long display of about 60 works displayed at the cultural center "To Scholeion", of his close friend, the iconic actress Irene Papas. The works take inspiration from the power hidden within the Greek language and alphabet, and the exhibition as a whole is an ode to human nature and its path, from birth to eternity, seen through the ancient Greek language. The public response was that of excitement and awe, with an admirable amount of approval and admiration from international art critics and press. The exhibition is scheduled to travel to the major art capitals of the world throughout 2011, of which Venice, Milan, Paris, Geneva, New York, and Miami.

Early life
Cesare Barro was born in Conegliano, a town close to the city of Venice, in the north of Italy. His father was a famous land owner and his mother was from a wealthy aristocrat family. Being raised with three sisters, and in the troubled and stereotypical environment of a typical mid-Upper class family, amongst feuds and tribulations, Barro began feeling out of place since a very young age. His favorite hobby was that of immersing himself in books, especially those of Greek mythology. As a result of this need to break free, he joined the Italian military, only to then become a parachute instructor.

Modelling and Cinema
Reaching a period in which his need of travels and seeing the world manifested more and more, Barro traveled to Rome in order to pursue a career in acting. He starred in many movies, being directed by famous names of the caliber of Hungarian director and screenwriter Miklós Jancsó, and acting on the side of actresses such as Monica Vitti, renown for being in Michelangelo Antonioni's and a persisting presence in many Cannes Film Festivals since the 1970s.

Realizing it is not his true artistic call, he decides to leave behind the envied world of cinema and decides to get involved with fashion and modelling. He works as a model for luxury fashion houses in all the fashion capitals of the world, from New York, London, Paris, to Milan. Barro is acclaimed for his beauty and physical traits, and hence becomes inspiration for many famous photographers, including Steven Klein, Bruce Weber, and many more, while establishing solid friendships that have lasted throughout the years with most. It is in these various travels that come with the job in which Barro has the fortune of meeting charismatic figures such as those of Andy Warhol, in the notorious gathering halls of Studio 54, and of Salvador Dali and his wife Gala Dali. Gala in fact, was the one who gave Barro one of the nicknames he is most recalled with, that is "Le Beau Venetian", in other words, "the Beautiful Venetian". He does as well collaborate with a couple of fashion designers, designing collections to be later produced, including the likes of Ermanno Daelli (later known as Ermanno Scervino), and Roberto Cavalli.

Life in Greece
In the early 80s, Cesare Barro goes to the Greek island of Mykonos for a weekend of leisure. Things though turn out in such a way that he stay decides to stay for longer. While exploring the Greek islands of the Cyclades, he ends up on Tinos, where he immediately falls in love with the very small village of Smardakito. He decides to settle there, and switching between Athens and Tinos back and forth, he stays there for about thirteen years. He is considered an integral part of the community, working with the children and their talents in craftsmanship in a school given to him by the villagers, and working on the decoration and preservation of all the public areas of the town. Transforming the village in an attraction for all the island's visitors, including for foreign decoration and design magazines, he dedicated this period of his life to creating art, in forms of both sculptures and paintings.

Jewelry
Following a pause from his life in Greece, Cesare Barro settles in Palm Beach, Florida. He starts designing jewelry, handmade, using exclusive materials and precious stones. Seeing the incredible response received by many of his close friends, connoisseurs of the field, he decides to make it a business by organizing private appointments for viewings all around the globe. As a result, his jewelry is worn today by some of the most important names of the international jet set and aristocracy. His works have been sold numerous times in the most prestigious auctions of the world, and they have been considered masterpieces of contemporary artisan jewel-making.