Born in Florence in 1946, Sandro Chia studied at the Instituto d’Arte and at the Accademia di Belle Arti, graduating in 1969. After completing his schooling, he traveled for a period of time throughout Europe, India, and Turkey before settling in Rome in 1970. Throughout the 1970’s Chia exhibited across Rome and Europe, eventually moving to New York City in 1982. Chia is best known as a member of the Italian Transvanguardia movement, which is the Italian subset of Neo-Expressionism. Along with others, Chia led the charge back into figurative and expressive art, mostly as a reaction to the conceptual art of the time. Chia has exhibited many times at the Venice Bienniale and his work was shown at documenta 7 in Kassel in 1980. Chia lives and works between Miami and Italy.
