Born in Zurich in 1965. His artistic career starts from the poetics of the metaphysical school of Giorgio de Chirico and Alberto Savinio, to reinvent its foundations according to a completely original personal interpretation. In his research he proceeds through moments of contemplation and metaphysical silences, contrasted by nocturnal and intimately troubled expressiveness, where one can clearly breathe the detachment from the silent stillness that inhabits the canvases of the Pictor Optimus. His works therefore appear as stages in which the objects present are bearers of dreamlike symbols. Ciro Palumbo is not only a painter, but in fact a poet who reflects, acts and composes to combine metaphors on the elusiveness of time and the incommensurability of space, thus showing his ability to deepen the observation not so much of nature as of the imaginative impressions that come from memory. Curious researcher and scholar, he has also been working for some years on the theme of Myth, interpreting classical mythology in an exquisitely modern key, and giving it a deeply cultured and suggestive reading. The artist therefore manages to sublimate and contextualize ancient myths in spaces outside of time, demonstrating their contemporaneity.
His training as an advertising designer led him to practice for years the profession of Art Director in advertising agencies in Turin. It is during this journey that he discovers and expands his visual and compositional skills. Subsequently, his experience in a modern art workshop and the knowledge of some contemporary masters led him to deepen the technique of oil painting with glazing. In recent years, the artist has also successfully dedicated himself to sculpture, giving three-dimensionality, through terracotta, to the topos of his poetics.
Palumbo began his exhibition activity in 1994, and has a hundred personal exhibitions to his credit throughout Italy. In 2011 he participated in the 54th Venice Biennale, Piedmont pavilion. In recent years, several important venues have hosted his works, including the Stadium of Domitian in Rome with the exhibition "The strenght of gods and heroes" and the multi-artistic event "Homo Viator. The visionary Poet ”, the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence with the exhibition“ Rinascenza. Painting, a secret not yet revealed ”, the Civic Museum of Palazzo della Penna in Perugia with the exhibition“ Rinascenza. An awakening for the soul ", the Bourbon Prison of the Aragonese Castle of Ischia with the exhibition" Palumbo - Fellini. Surreal imagery between painting and cinema ", the Palazzo della Cultura in Catania with the exhibition" Migrant Islands ", the Colonnaded Hall of the Palazzo della Città di Bari with the exhibition" The flight of the visionary Poet ", the MAUTO National Automobile Museum of Turin and the Carlo V Castle of Monopoli with the exhibition “Eternal glances between the earth and the sky”, the Piaggio Museum in Pontedera (Pi) with the exhibition “Homo Viator”.
Among the international exhibitions, the presence at the Artexpo in New York, at the Context Art Miami, the solo exhibitions in Providence (USA) and in Switzerland in Bellinzona are worth mentioning. Some works by Palumbo are present in the collection of the "Credito Bergamasco Foundation", at the "Civic Gallery of Modern Art G. Sciortino" in Monreale (Pa), at the MACIST Museum in Biella, at the Palazzo della Cultura and at MACS of Catania. Angelo Crespi, Alberto Agazzani, Flaminio Gualdoni, Alessandra Redaelli, Aldo Nove, Ivan Quaroni, Luca Nannipieri, Roberto Capitanio, Angelo Mistrangelo, Tommaso Paloscia, Alessandra Frosini, Alberto D'Atanasio, Stefania Bison, Francesca Bogliolo have written about his artistic production. Paolo Levi, Vittorio Sgarbi. His works are published in important industry yearbooks and magazines, and some paintings are also found in institutional and private collections in Italy and abroad.
He currently lives and works in Turin.