Born in Catania in 1947, he has been undertaking painting studies at a professional institute, and later has been dedicated himself to the study of ancient masters, attending artistic and cultural circles through which he get in touch with many painters and in particular with Orazio Reitano, who directs him to the study of the classics. Meanwhile, he performs decorations of Catania aristocratic buildings under the guidance of the ing. Alfio Mangano of S. Lio. Conti's pictorial work is based on a solid philosophical assumption: Art is conceived as the divine expression that purifies and directs us towards higher and "more angelic than human" values. This conception, coupled with the study of classical literature, brings him closer to a romantic painting style, especially in the landscape production, where the artist seems to express what Burke called “the sense of sublime": the landscapes are portrayed with a melancholy and painful vision, emphasizing the sense of loss of the human soul in the greatness and vastness of nature and creation. Conti depicts large expanses, with irregular brushes that make faded shapes and boundaries, where the frightened soul wanders in search of the divine and infinite, dotted with ruins of classical buildings, which, although attacked by the corrosion of time, still testify to our astonished eyes the greatness of past civilizations. Landscapes are still populated by Gods and nymphs, or solitary shepherds with small herd admiring the immensity of nature, ghostly or playful figures moving between the fronds, or emerging from the sparkling waves of the sea. The love for classicism, its myths and symbols, is also expressed in the picturesque depictions of archaeological finds, vases, cups, amphorae, sculptural busts,bas-reliefs of ancient warriors, portrayed with wise brushstrokes or spatulas and a studied use of colors, which seems to make the image antiquated. The chromatic range, in its gray, ocher, clays, scarlet, dark blue or green emeralds, reproduces the colors of the ancient artifacts of classicism, such as the soft draperies of matrons or ancient Greece philosophers’ tunics. In human figures, however, dominates the softness of the draw, the faces, the hairstyles and the drapes, the looks are thoughtful and absorbed, expression of a soul that wanders and palpitates searching for knowledge and the true meaning of things.

 

Since 1987, Conti has showed in numerous group and solo exhibitions and his works are present in public and private collections and qualified publications of contemporary art. Recently, he attended the "First Biennial of Creativity" in Verona, presented by prof. Vittorio Sgarbi (2014), the Festival of Expressive Art “Nature and Life” at the Botanical Garden of Catania (2015) and the "Etna Art Expo" exhibition at the Palazzo della  Cultura di Paternò (2017). His works are permanently showed at the gallery "Le Passe-partout d'Or" in Catania.