Giovanni Cumbat, was born in Rome in 1952 to parents originally from Trieste. His father was a pilot in the Air Force of Italy, awarded the silver medal of honour during WWII while his mother was a graduate in Languages.

From a young age he shows great manual and creative skills.

In 1960 he’s eight years old when he follows his father who has been sent to Moscow to undertake the position of aeronautical attaché. At this time between the United States and the Soviet Union there was a continuous state of political and military tension, defined as “Cold War” that almost leads to an out-break but fortunately was avoided. During this five-year period, the political climate, the very cold weather and the atmosphere profoundly affects his education and character.

The frequent journeys around the world to accompany his mother, although very young, open his heart and mind.

People, architecture, colors, images so varied, instill in him a great desire for knowledge and provide an enormous cultural heritage.

The studies undertaken in different countries and towns allow him to learn more foreign languages, which is a very useful tool for the life to come.

To observe, get excited, fantasize are common actions. A cloud, a tree, a bird flight, a sunset, a face, a dance step or a musical note everything pumps up his heart.

When he’s eighteen years old he moulds his first bronze sculpture. In 1970 he meets an important artist, Henry Moore, a brief but intense encounter that lasts one afternoon. At his departure one sentence is stuck in his mind: “I see your fingerprint in what you do, carry on (in doing this) with love and enthusiasm...”

In the three-year period 1975-1978 he lives in Trieste to work and as a professional handball player.

The laurels won do not restrain him from attempting a great adventure, the search and awareness of his self. The chosen country is Nigeria and a technical job is begun.

These are years full of new experiences, emotions, big sacrifices and hard tests. A legacy that widens what will be a source of inspiration.

On his return to Italy he gets married and has a son.

The new responsibilities trap his creativity into a small atelier-office.

He carves out a little time on Saturdays and Sundays, the only fertile moments to express what his heart suggests to his hand.

Step by step the idea that work will be the means to achieve freedom to express himself as a full-time artist arises.

In 2005, through the purchasing of a country house, his life-dream comes true, a wide workroom in contact with nature. No more narrow spaces, everything is within his reach, and he is able to switch from a technique to another without obstacles.

As a self-taught person, not knowing how to confine himself into one genre only, the belief grows that he can realize everything his imagination suggests.

To use art materials and techniques of every genre and invent new ones.

Unstoppable are his ideas and his works take shape one by one.

To handle the “res”, get excited and be able to excite consecrate themselves in an anthological

Art-exhibition by the title: “Fantasy in search of an author” held in Rome at the Augustinian Gallery in Piazza del Popolo. It’s 2009…