Simone was born and raised in Rome. After graduating and attending the Rome Academy of Fine Arts, he began by imitating the paintings of Joan Mirò and Vincent Van Gogh. However, Simone’s life would take an important detour through acting after landing the lead role in a feature film, which then led to many opportunities in the Italian entertainment industry, merging into other artistic disciplines such as theatre, photography and filmmaking — each one enriching his artistic creativity in unique ways. Having just completed a successful TV series, Simone came for a vacation to Australia, and was so taken with its beauty and land that itinspired him back to his true passion of his paints and brushes.
“The only time I feel alive is when I paint.” Van Gogh said it, but this is a phrase that is well associated with the philosophy of Simone. In 2005 he began to professionally exhibit his art to the world. He quickly became one of the premiere figurative Roman artists thanks to his evocative paintings of his hometown city of Rome. As the renowned Italian artist Paolo Giorgi describes his landscapes, “a totemic sun illuminates by slanting cuts, or blazes up to crumbling distances or dazzling dense scrub, a place of poetry and enchantment, where Piccioni settles and indulges willingly. Endless spaces are for Piccioni a wandering among itineraries with idyllic stops where one perhaps wishes to linger in a contemplative restlessness.”
A recent shift in Simone’s art has propelled him into the infinite world of interiors and still life. The simplest of settings, such as his grandparent’s cellar, often takes center stage for his works. “I love to paint them, crisscrossed with cuts of light that, from the windows, puts objects of every forge in the foreground which have been there for years and long forgotten – no matter how useful they are or have been. Each tool has a story, placed side by side in an ancient order, contrasted by white or black with colours mutedby stale dust.”
Now living and working in Sydney, today his paintings are part of the many important private collections such as the Prince of Qatar, President of Italy and Bulgari (including the Sydney flagship store), and they adorn many official state buildings, and suites of prestigious hotel chains and luxury residences all over the world. Simone has also been commissioned to paint for many European government officials and palaces, including Italian President Napolitano.
Over the years Simone has found a purpose through his paintings: committing himself to show how our society is beautiful, or how he wishes it would be seen. Even in its supposed ugliness, there is always beauty to be magnified.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
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2022 Still time, Frances Keevil, Woolloomoolo
2022 Dei Fiori, Frances Keevil Gallery Online, Sydney
2021 Momenti di Luce, Frances Keevil Gallery, Sydney
2020 Ombre contra Luce, Villa Principe Leopoldo, Lugano, Switzerland
2018 Madre tela Padre colore, Museo Diocesano di Albano, Rome
2017 Ego Assolvo, Il Frantoio, Capalbio
2015 Promenades Romaines at the Biblioteca Angelica, Rome
2014 La deliziosa solitudine at the historic Palazza Sforza Cesarini in Genzano di Roma, Rome 2012 Il Polittico Gallery, Rome
2009 Il Polittico Gallery, Rome
2005 Le tele tolte, Calcata
2004 Museum of the Infiorata, Genzano
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COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS
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2022 Sunshine Coast Art Prize, Caloundra Regional Gallery
2022 20000 Small Scale Art, Lethbridge Art Gallery
2022 Percival Portrait Prize, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville
2022 Muswellbrook Art Prize, Muswellbrook Arts Centre
2021 Reset & Revival, Studio W, Sydney
2020 Federico Fellini, Danilo Donati...La mia Umbria, Tower Gallery, Todi 2020 Omaggio a Fellini, L'Hotel Art, Rome
2019 Aurea Pictura, Comune di Santa Maria Salina, Sicily 2019 A l’infinito, Torre Truglia, Sperlonga
2018 FIVE, Catania Art Gallery, Catania
2017 Per Armando Trovajoli, Hotel Art, Rome
2015 San Francesco e i luoghi del Suo cammino Spirituale, Museo - Antico Tesoro, Loreto
2015 Romart, Biennale internazionale di arte e cultura, Rome Iconica, Palazzo Fruscione, Salerno
2015 San Francesco e i luogi del Suo cammino spirituale, Sala dei Marmi del Museo dell’ Opera Francescana, Naples
2015 U Liotru, la leggenda di Eliodoro, Catania Art Gallery, Catania
2014 Reminiscenze Romane, UTC Palazzo Azimut, Rome
2013 Il Polittico, Grand Hotel St.Regis, Rome
2013 Roma Silenziosa, Il Polittico Gallery, Grand Hotel, Rome
2013 Kostbarkeiten, Christine Bruegger Gallerie, Bern, Switzerland
2012 Dark green, Bright Green, Palazzo Incontro, Rome
2012 I sette volti di Roma, Natale di Roma, Fontana di Trevi
2011 Galleria Il Polittico, Rome;
2011, Venti anni, venti x venti, Galleria Il Polittico, Roma
2010 Un cibo senza tempo, Il Polittico Gallery, Rome
2009 La leggerezza nello sport e nell’ arte, Mondiali di Atletica, Casa Italia, Berlin
2008 Galleria Il Polittico, Rome Per Amore – La Raccolta Caggiano, Palazzo Incontro, Rome; Calendario 2009, Il Polittico Gallery, Roma
2007 Nuovi Pittori della Realtà , a cura di Maurizio Sciaccaluga, PAC Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea, Milan 2007 Nuovi Realismi, LVIII edizione del Premio Michetti, a cura di Maurizio Sciaccaluga,
2007Mumi Museo Michetti, Francavilla al Mare (Chieti)
2006 Quindici anni, Scuderie Aldobrandini per l’Arte, Frascati, Rome; Calendario
His works are in prestigious collections around the world such as the collection Bvlgari s.p.a. and Starwood Luxury Hotel s.p.a.
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