Italo Scanga Sold at Auction Prices

Sculptor, b. 1932 - d. 2001

Italo Scanga (June 6, 1932 - July 7, 2001), an Italian-born American artist, was known for his sculptures, prints and, paintings, mostly created from found objects.

Italo Scanga was an innovative neo-Dadaist, neo-Expressionist, and neo-Cubist multimedia artist who made sculptures of ordinary objects and created prints, glass, and ceramic works.

Scanga's materials included natural objects like branches and seashells, as well as kitsch figurines, castoff musical instruments and decorative trinkets salvaged from flea markets and thrift shops. He combined these ingredients into free-standing assemblages, which he then painted. Although visually ebullient, the results sometimes referred to gruesome episodes from Greek mythology or the lives and deaths of martyred saints.

He considered his artistic influences to be sweepingly pan-cultural, from African sculpture to Giorgio de Chirico. He often collaborated with the sculptor Dale Chihuly, who was a close friend.

Italo died of heart failure on July 27 at Turquoise Street studio at age 69.