Keith Haring

Paladino was born on December 18, 1948, in Paduli, Campania, and grew up in Benevento, Italy, where he also received his early education in the arts. Between 1964 and 1968, he attended the Liceo Artistico di Benevento.

He held his first solo exhibition in 1968 at the Galleria Carolina in Portici, Naples, with an introduction by Achille Bonito Oliva, who also supported his solo show at Enzo Cannaviello’s Studio Oggetto in Caserta the following year. However, a formative moment in Paladino’s artistic journey occurred in 1964, when, still a student, he visited the 32nd Venice Biennale. There, he was particularly influenced by the American Pop artists on display at the U.S. Pavilion.

In the early 1970s, Paladino’s style evolved towards conceptual art and photography, though by the mid-1970s, he returned to painting as his primary medium. This shift was marked by his notable work Silently, I Am Retiring to Paint a Picture, where even the walls of the exhibition space were painted, underscoring his commitment to the narrative power of painting. His intention was not to revisit the Italian painting traditions of the 1950s and ’60s, but to distance himself from movements that had rejected conventional painting, engaging instead with a complex interplay of linguistic and semiotic elements to redefine his artistic expression.