Umberto Maggio was born in Palermo on December 1, 1988. He studied at the Mother Teresa High School of Calcutta, Cammarata (AG), where in 2006/2007 obtained the Scientific High School Diploma. Subsequently he had been enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo, earning the First Level Academic Diploma in Graphic Art in the A.Y. 2016/2017 and the Second Level Academic Diploma in Graphic Art in the A.Y. 2019/2020.
During him academic studies, in the A.Y. 2016/2017 he had been intern as Archivist at the Library of the Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo. In the A.Y. 2019/2020 he became expert on the subject at the Chair of 1-2-3 Engraving Techniques, Course of Prof. Sandro Bracchitta, he also collaborated as trainee with the Central Institute for Graphics in Rome for which he carried out various assignments as an engraver, graphic designer and organizer in relation to a cycle of seminars arranged with the Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo. He’s currently an expert on the subject at the Chairs of Engraving Techniques 1-2 and Serigraphy (Biennium), Courses of Prof. Riccardo Mazzarino from the A.Y. 2020/2021.
His works aim at the story of mystical-alchemical journeys and are linked to the philosophical concepts of Exogenesis and Panspermia: in short, they speak of the birth of life through profound universal connections. These are connections that cross the Sephirotic Tree of the Kabbalah: its branches intertwine as in a large Beech tree - a symbol of Norse knowledge - and stretch upwards towards the cosmos and its infinite astral paths, projecting the man to other worlds inseparably connected.
The techniques he uses for the production of the engravings are called experimental: they are detached from traditional chalcographic techniques while not completely excluding the technical procedures. Over time and through his studies, he has achieved a personal balance in which the technique of collography and drypoint or, again, of galv-etch and carborundum are mixed.