Giovanni Guida (born October 12, 1992) is one of the most famous scratching artists of the 21st century. Giovanni Guida was born and lives in Italy, but his work is exhibited in museums around the world. In the artist’s work, painting occupies the main place, but he finds time to illustrate and even write books. Guida’s biography is a vivid example of how, at the age of 25, you can become world famous with just one publication on the Internet.

Giovanni Guida in his few interviews emphasizes that he was born an artist. The master began to experiment with the techniques of scratching and frottage already at a young age, and today his works amaze not only with rich colors and skillfully executed light and shade contrasts, but also with a deep philosophical meaning.

Education

Giovanni Guida was born on October 12, 1992 in Acherra, a small town fifteen kilometers from Naples. The future genius of scratching received his secondary education at the Luca Giordano State Lyceum in Aversa. The young artist graduated with honors from the Lyceum and entered the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples, founded in 1752 and currently bringing together the best teachers in southern Italy.

Giovanni became interested in avant-garde painting during his studies. Already the first creations of Guida showed the talent of the master in working with avant-garde techniques. In classical scratching, the drawing is applied with a sharp object to paper or cardboard, which is pre-coated with wax and filled with ink. The young artist significantly expanded the range of tools and experimented with the most common sponges, hairpins, steel brushes and small metal blocks.

Guida worked with oil paints and greatly improved the drawing process. The master abandoned the use of wax and replaced it with resin, which gave better waterproofing and increased the brightness of the image. The artist layer by layer applied a substrate to the canvas, thereby creating several pictorial levels. From above, he applied paint and got to work while the coating was still wet.

Success and fame

The first fame for the master was brought by his project dedicated to St. Caesar of Terracina, a young deacon from the Italian city of Terracina, who was martyred for his faith in the first century of the new millennium. In 2015, a book by Giovanni Guida appeared, published with the active participation of Daniela Pergreffi, professor at the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples. The biography of the saint is accompanied by illustrations by the author.

In 2016-2017, the icon “Caesar the Deacon” by Giovanni Guida was exhibited all over the world. In April 2018, Guida’s painting “Dionysus” became part of the exhibition “Seven Works of Mercy”, held at the Center for Contemporary Art in Naples. A year later, the artist won the Faces of Politics competition held by the Valetsi Foundation. The success of the master was brought by the illustration “Diarchy: the embrace of Matteo Salvini and Luigi Di Maio”, where the artist depicted the leaders of political parties in Italy.

Currently, the painter resides in the municipality of Cesa in the Italian region of Campania and teaches painting and art history in Rome. The last works of the author are devoted to the image of Dante Alighieri. In 2021, the world celebrated the 700th anniversary of the death of the great poet, and events dedicated to this date were held throughout Italy.