Nicola de Maria   born on December 6, 1954 in Foglianise   Nicola de Maria wants to paint the beautiful. In largely abstract, glowingly colourful pictures, he gives visual expression to his own longings, as well as to his deep respect for nature.   "These natural phenomena, intensified in colour and form, arouse in the viewer a wealth of sensations and a stimulation of the soul, which Nicola de Maria experiences himself in the face of the beauty of nature," writes Ingrid Mössinger in 1994 on the occasion of an exhibition in the Kunstverein in Ludwigsburg.   Nicola de Maria composes and improvises with brilliantly radiant streaks, colour fields and splotches of paint on canvas, paper and even velvet. Almost as though he wanted to visually capture rhythms and sounds and the expanse of the universe in his many pictures.   "It is a style of painting that is constantly changing and yet ever true to itself, full of ease and optimism, full of joie de vivre and vitality", writes Peter Baum on the occasion of the exhibition of new paintings in the Galerie der Stadt Linz (1999).   Nicola de Maria begins his career in the early seventies with photographic works. From 1975, he creates a wealth of drawings on writing paper, first in pencil and later in pastel, oil and watercolour. With increasing success he begins to apply paint directly onto walls and produces small canvas paintings.   In 1988, under the title "Trionfo della Carità" (Triumph of Compassion), the artist presents a series of sensitive and characteristic works on paper, created between 1985 and 1987. They display a wealth of forms and colours: a world full of energy.   Each individual sheet - simply torn out of common notepads - bears a more or less philosophical motto. Among these are "Il bel tempo" (Beautiful Time), "25 baci" (25 Kisses), "Goccia d'acqua" (Drops of Water) and "Voce della Felicità" (Voice of Bliss).   "Nicola de Maria is the magician of a world of memories and hopes, a world full of beauty and happiness. Regno dei Fiori, Universo senza Bombe, Libertà segreta segreta. Tu è ritratto di me stesso. Sempre regno dei Fiori, these titles, between prayer and poem, conjure up a transcendental and supernatural world of peaceful ease," writes Jean-Francois Mozziconacci.   The critic Achille Bonito Oliva brings Nicola de Maria into the spiritual proximity of the Transavanguardia. This idea is supported by the poetry of his colours, as well as his use of cipher-like symbols, which imbue his pictures with metaphoric meaning.   Nicola de Maria lives in Turin.     Selected Solo Exhibitions:   1990 Testa Orfica. Musée des Beaux Arts, Nîmes.   1994 Giorni parole e stelle fiori. Kunstverein Ludwigsburg.   1999 Paintings 1996. Galerie der Stadt Linz.