Bernardo Siciliano incorporates scale and color to illustrate the magnificent harmony of city landscapes. His tactile surfaces and superb compositional sense create a vast monumentality in his works. Currently living and working in New York City, Siciliano is inspired by the dazzling city light in the sky and the gleaming reflections on the iron bridges. Siciliano paints what he sees through windows and says that if he didn’t have a real window, he would use an imaginary one. The window frames a small portion of the landscape as if Siciliano was in close proximity to his subject.

To Siciliano, the light in New York is compelling and attractive because it is very different from European light. "It’s violent, blinding" he says. He has changed in New York as an artist because of this light. He sees objects as blocks of color which allows him to create using a greater and freer chromatic sense. Depending on the size of the work, it can take up to two months to create a painting using vibrant and decisive brushstrokes, full-bodied lines and tactile, active surfaces.

Siciliano has always thought the figure to be an important and challenging subject matter for any artist. His models are his friends and family, chosen for their ability to pose as if they are on stage. One is Gianni, a professional photographer; while another, Jackie, is a former fashion model.  Each is posed nude, in a provocative manner with a thoughtful and intense gaze. He places the figure centrally, while leaving the rest of the space open. The space between the figure and background then becomes a second concept in the painting, as it becomes a landscape because of the space surrounding the figure.

Bernardo Siciliano was born in Rome on June 29, 1969, where he developed as an artist while being exposed to the city's cultural environment. He is the son of Enzo Siciliano, the writer. In 1991, Il Gabbiano Gallery in Rome arranged for his first one-person show, presented by Roberto Tassi. In 1992, the director Piero Maccarinelli commissioned him to paint the sets of the comedy "Verso la fine dell’estate" by Carlo Repetti, put on at the 35th Festival of Spoleto. In 1995, he collaborated on Bernardo Bertolucci’s movie "Io ballo da sola." In 1998, he was an award winner at the invitational XXXII Prix International d’Art Contemporain de Montecarlo. In recent years, he has been included in group shows at Albright Knox Museum in Buffalo, NY, and Galleria Forni in Bologna. In 2005, the Italian Factory sponsored his Jet-Lag exhibition at Chiostro de Bramante, Rome which traveled to Palazzo della Ragione in Milan.