BIOGRAPHIES
Andrea Pacanowski
Andrea Pacanowski was born in Rome in 1962 into a family with a strong artistic sensitivity: his father was an architect, his aunt a painter of the École de Paris, and his grandmother a sculptor. Building on these solid foundations, Andrea began his educational journey after graduating from an art high school, starting to work in the studio of Alberta Tiburzi, a famous Italian photographer of international renown.
For over twenty years, Pacanowski dedicated himself to fashion photography, developing his creative language and working both in Italy and abroad, mainly in Canada and the United States, with editorial collaborations, publications, and advertising campaigns.
In 2008, the urge to fully dedicate himself to art became imperative, leading him to embark on a path of continuous experimentation and technical research. This led him to develop a fusion of photography and painting, in a dialogue between the virtual and the real that materializes in three-dimensional and unique works, where photographic language is exaggerated to evoke painting.
Pacanowski employs a highly unusual technique, creating photographs without post-production interventions. This choice results in unprecedented visual solutions, where the image transforms into a painting. This complex and articulate technique has been extended to audiovisual transposition, integrating movement, dynamism, and sound, as seen in the video installation "Acquario," where light exploration, composition of forms, and chromatic juxtaposition revisit his artistic experience in photography.
Andrea Pacanowski debuted as an artist in Paris in 2008 and has participated in numerous group exhibitions and international fairs in New York, Miami, Singapore, Istanbul, Milan, Bologna, and Rome. In the capital city, in March 2012, he held his first solo exhibition, "Beyond Me," at the Museum of Rome in Trastevere, receiving great acclaim from both the public and critics. The exhibition was subsequently hosted in Naples, Brindisi, Sicily, and Spoleto.
Currently, Andrea Pacanowski lives and works in Rome.
Stefano Zingaro
Stefano Zingaro was born in Rome in 1988, into a family deeply connected to the arts: his mother is a restorer, and his uncle a sculptor and painter. From adolescence, he nurtured a passion for detail and composition through miniature painting—an interest that would later anticipate his aesthetic research.
After earning a degree in Product Design at IED Rome, he specialized in graphic design, focusing on brand identity, post-production, and photo editing. His professional path led him to collaborate with entities in the art and fashion industries, as well as working as a 3D designer for a major company in the defense sector.
Photography represents a complementary expressive language for him—a way to explore new visual and emotional dimensions. His first collaborative approach came through his work with photographer Alida Oddo, with whom he developed the project The Truth of Bodies, an intimate and visceral exploration of the perception of female identity through the nude.
His encounter with Andrea Pacanowski marked a new chapter in his creative journey: from a spontaneous connection and deep mutual understanding, a collaboration was born—one that merges visions, skills, and different sensibilities, enhancing each other's strengths. His participation in MIA Photo Fair 2025 represents his official debut in the art world, an opportunity to present his vision and solidify a new path.
Today, Stefano lives and works as a freelance professional in Rome.
Felicia Pacanowska
Félicia Pacanowska was born in 1907 in Łódź, Poland, into a family of artists. After completing her secondary studies in her hometown, she was admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, where she graduated in painting and printmaking five years later. From that moment on, woodcut and copperplate engraving, along with painting, became the core of her artistic life.
In 1932, she left Poland to join the large group of Jewish painters of the École de Paris. During her first months in Paris, she frequented the Cabinet des Estampes et des Dessins at the Louvre, deepening her study of graphic arts.
Her life, however, was marked by many hardships. Despite adversity, from 1935 onward she traveled to Italy and England. She also spent several months in Poland, where she exhibited fifty prints and monotypes at the Institute of Art. During this visit, she saw her parents for the last time, unaware that both would later be murdered by the Nazis.
In 1935, Félicia moved to Rome for a year, where she studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and the School of Medal Art. Between 1935 and 1937, she returned to Łódź, where she formed a friendship with poet Moyshe Broderzon, for whom she created a portrait. Back in Paris in 1937, she devoted herself to perfecting the technique of etching.
With the outbreak of World War II, Félicia worked as a drafter in a factory producing aviation components. During the Occupation, she endured the hardships of persecution, and in 1942, she miraculously escaped the Vel' d’Hiv Roundup. Until the end of the war, she lived in extremely precarious and dangerous conditions. All her artworks and working tools were lost, and she had to bear the immense sorrow of learning about her parents’ death. Her unwavering determination to work was what allowed her to overcome this dark period. After the war, she visited Rome many times, a period in which she produced numerous portraits, including those of Chil Aronson and Ernest Nameyni.
Returning permanently to Paris in 1947, she resumed her artistic production, devoting herself to painting, drawing, etching, aquatint, and pastels. Félicia regarded all these forms of expression as equally important. In 1954, she was awarded the Viarrego Prize and, two years later, the Modigliani Drawing Prize in Livorno. In 1958, she joined the jury of the Salon d’Automne and Salon Comparaison, and went on to regularly participate in all the major Parisian salons: Salon d’Automne, Salon des Indépendants, Salon de Mai, Salon des Réalités Nouvelles, Jeune Gravure Contemporaine, Estampes Contemporaine, Le Trait, among others.
In 1962, the Musée National d’Art Moderne and the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris acquired some of her works, recognizing their significance.
In both her graphic and painterly production, Félicia Pacanowska evolved from an initially figurative style toward increasingly abstract forms. Her engravings, awarded on numerous occasions, are held in public collections. The construction of her compositions—always rigorous—often reveals a cubist influence. Her works in burin engraving and etching stand out for the purity of line, the balanced interplay of black and white, and a refined and sensitive luminosity.
Félicia Pacanowska passed away in Rome in 2002, leaving behind an artistic legacy that continues to resonate for its intensity and virtuosity.
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