Armando Tinnirello was born in 1950 in Lentini (Syracuse), Italy, and lives and works in Milan. He studied at the Italian State Institute of Art in Catania, obtaining a Diploma of Master of Art in 1969 and, in 1973, a Diploma in Applied Art, specialising in painting, photography and serigraphy.
In 1983, he moved to the United States, where he lived and worked in Sarasota, Florida and in 1986, he created the environmental sculpture Wall Fragment – Remains (cement, plaster, acrylic paint and neon light) on commission in Siesta Key, Sarasota; the work is now held in a private collection. He returned to Italy in 1990, settling in Milan, where he continues his artistic practice.
In 1995, he performed in the video Soft Driller by Miltos Manetas, photographed by Armin Linke, and in 1998 he participated as a performer in Abstract (from) Mirrorsites ’98, also by Miltos Manetas, at Galleria Le Case d’Arte in Milan, again documented by Armin Linke.
He expresses his artistic research through both painting and photography. In painting, he draws inspiration from the philosophy of Heraclitus and the myth of primordial fire. In photography, he is inspired by nature, the myth of metamorphosis and the shamanic quest, creating images that often take the form of symbolic tribal masks.