A native of Nice, César Malfidano has already created more than thirty works in just one and a half years. From the Place Massena to the Château de Crémat, from private beaches to hotel rooftops, from St Raphaël to Roissy, via Mexico with Oaxaca, you have no doubt already seen the signature of César Malfi. As a law student, his path seemed clear until he graduated to become a tax specialist. But since he was fifteen years old, the young man from Nice has had an unfortunate urge to paint walls.
08.11.2022 by Romain Scardilli & Pauline Alix
The art of capturing a sense of beauty
It is after travelling that Caesar's initiatory journey brings him back to his love for the transmission of art. More specifically for Antiquity and the Italian Renaissance. Street art encompasses a wide range of societal subjects and the street is its medium. César innovates this medium by proposing to take timeless works - usually in private collections - out of their museums, to give everyone the opportunity to see them and learn to appreciate them. In this way, he becomes the guarantor that classical art continues to radiate its virtues through time.
One of his latest frescoes: "Lovely Tension" at the Saint-Jean d'Angely Campus perfectly illustrates his desire to combine street art with classical art, reminding us of the nostalgia of student flirtations.
Art where you least expect it
For the past few months, César has been experimenting with new venues, in a quest to create social links. And this desire to make art accessible to all goes further. Gone are the tourist spots and university centres that guarantee a constant flow of visitors. It was not only necessary to transform living spaces into unique works of art, but also to work on the way to catch the eye.
César created the sublime Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer, on the CCAS reception centre (14 avenue du XVème corps - Nice). Then, in collaboration with the Fondation de Nice, he dressed the walls of the men's stopover at the port with Raphael's Three Graces and the women's and the women's stopover with Jan van Eyck's Man with a Red Turban. Three symbols carefully chosen according to the location: which transmit the values of the work to people in difficulty.
En accentuant ces analogies, César Malfi fait rayonner l’art dans des lieux qui n’auraient pas, à première vue, attiré l’attention. Pour s’inscrire dans une logique de proximité avec le tissu associatif, l’artiste a organisé en octobre dernier, une fresque participative au quartier des Moulins.
With the ADAM association, César wanted to unite young people and create commitment around this new work. This collaborative fresco encouraged listening, mutual aid and cohesion with all the actors in the neighbourhood.
It is at 2 avenue Martin Luther-King that you can discover the fresco of the Goddess Nikaïa. A nod to the etymology of the city of Nice, which has its origins in the name of the Greek goddess, known as "the victorious". Values of ambition and positivity that make you want to undertake and that above all place women at the heart of the present day.
Dans les mois à venir, César exposera ses oeuvres au Musée d’Archéologie de Cimiez et sortira une collaboration avec une pâtisserie emblématique de la ville.
“The idea is not only to create a new type of street-art, but also to make them meeting places for the curious, the novice, the lovers of the sublime and to share this freedom of seeing. "