Gian Garizio was born in 1931 in Brusnengo in Northern Italy, and came to South Africa as a young man in 1953. From his early boyhood all has leisure time was taken up behind the easel. He is an Artist based in South Africa.
There is a quiet strength about Gian-Piero Garizio and his art that immediately arrests the attention. Behind the unruffled façade of the man and his art, there is an urgency and an untapped reservoir of inner calm.
Unlike many of his contemporaries, Gian Piero does not see his art as fulfilling any obligation to society. His art to him is something personal and his sole aim in attempting any new work is to capture in oils his impression of the subject selected. There is no intention to please, inspire or uplift the viewer, but should this happen, the viewer is the richer for it.
In all his works – be they landscapes, street scenes, flower studies, or the boat scenes of which he is so fond. Gian-Piero is able to capture a depth of mood and atmosphere far beyond the confines of the canvas.
The delicate nuances of nature, the playful shadows of oak leaves on whitewashed walls, colourful fishing boats on sun-soaked beaches or a restless sea pounding its fury on the rocks. . . Garizio gives his subject a charm and magic difficult to rival.