Marco Silombria was a talented Italian artist renowned for his multi-faceted contributions to graphic design, painting and ceramics. Having grown up in Savona, Liguria, he studied at the Art School of Genoa under Emilio Scanavino, and later moved to Turin to further his education, where he collaborated with the celebrated advertising designer Armando Testa.

In the late 1960s Silombria co-founded the CGSS agency with Silvio Saffirio, Pietro Gagliardi and Giorgio Caponetti. As its art director he crafted advertising campaigns for major Italian brands such as Fiat, Superga, Defonseca, Dixan, Riso Gallo and Zegna. Notably, he designed the historic branding for Riso Gallo. In 1985 Silombria shifted his focus from graphic design to painting and ceramics, relocating to Albisola, a hub for ceramic art. His artwork often explored themes of the human body, employing a fluid graphic style that evolved from illustration to anthropomorphic typographical signs.

One of the first postwar Italian artists to come out as openly gay in such a culturally conservative society, Silombria’s art is characterised by a blend of homoeroticism, new dadaism and pop art, drawing inspiration from artists like Matisse and Piero Manzoni. His works frequently reinterpreted Dionysian and Olympic themes from classical art, celebrating the joie de vivre of gay society. An active advocate for gay rights, Silombria was among the founders and early members of FUORI! (Fronte Unitario Omosessuale Rivoluzionario Italiano), the first organised Italian gay-rights movement, producing graphics and illustrations for early gay publications such as Fuori! and Lambda. His imagery offered one of Italy’s earliest affirmative visual languages for homosexuality, challenging the absence or caricature of gay representation in the 1970s.

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