BIOGRAPHY OF BOBO IVANCICH  DE LA TORRIENTE

                   Bobo Ivancich photographed by Mario Schifano, 1997

Bobo Ivancich, Marquis de la Torriente was born in Venice in 1963, the heir of a noble Italian-Cuban family.

The family was very close to prominent artists of the period including Ernest Hemingway and Ezra Pound - with whom Bobo played chess as a child - characters that appear frequently in Ivancich's 

paintings alongside Hollywood friends of his, such as Quentin Tarantino and Jude Law.

"Enfant prodige" and at the same time "Enfant terrible", Bobo started painting at an early age, after seeing his fellow countryman, the painter Wilfredo Lam at work.

As a child, Bobo often visited Peggy Guggenheim's home before it become the contemporary Venetian Foundation and the Venice Biennale of contemporary art. Peggy was a dear family friend and 

Bobo lived in Venice at Palazzo Barbaro, where Peggy and the American painter Sargent had also lived.

When Bobo was just eighteen, his works were bought by the American Lambert Collection; later his works were sold to some of the most influential collectors in the world including such families as

 the Getty, Rosekrans, the Cipriani and the Versace family’s recent acquisition at Sotheby’s auction.

A major influence in Ivancich's creative life was his long friendship with the great Italian master Gino De Dominicis, of whom he is considered his protegé and “erede spirituale”. 

Andy Warhol spoke of Mario Schifano as the best Italian artist and  Mario Schifano once said of Bobo Ivancich, "He is more of an artist than me!" 

An eclectic artist, in his early years, Ivancich found his major expression in abstract work and "performance" art, then in conceptual works, turning lately to hyper-realism and digital art.

Bobo Ivancich lives and works between New York and Venice ; his next exhibition in New York will be at the Rockefeller Center in 2009.

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