Mare, chiudere gli occhi, o mare, 1983

After early experiments with photography, between 1976 and 1977 Nicola De Maria identified painting as his chosen language. From that point on, his work, ranging from small-scale pastels on paper to large-scale frescoes, has revealed both a capacity for concentration and an all-encompassing pictorial embrace.

His canvases are immersed in creative thought. They appear to us as if through a telescope painted at the sky, in contemplation of parallel and future universes, utterly happy realms, without bombs, where the soul, closed off from the din of the disorderly world, works toward an art that is consolation. [...]