Biografie

My name is Fabrizio Nicolosi, a painter and visual artist from Sicily, known as Poliops, born on October 27, 1992.
My story begins in Adrano, a small town in the province of Catania.

From a young age, I learned the craft of baking in my family’s bakery. This artisanal knowledge, made of precise and repetitive gestures, left a lasting mark on me.

But my path took an unexpected turn at the age of 23. Overnight, my vision became blurred — I began to see everything double, constantly. This condition is called diplopia. When I learned the diagnosis, I felt deep anxiety: I came across terrifying words like “brain tumor” and “multiple sclerosis.” That fear of the unknown plunged me into a sense of isolation and disorientation that’s hard to describe.

To avoid being overwhelmed, I decided to transform that inner chaos into creation. I returned to an old passion: stencil art. Soon, my first works attracted attention, and almost by chance, I discovered the power of street art. Fascinated, I immersed myself as a self-taught artist — observing, studying, experimenting for hours.

One day, an association in my town offered me a challenge: to paint a monumental mural against the mafia. I had never painted a wall before, but I accepted. I portrayed judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, symbols of the fight against organized crime. This work marked a turning point — for the first time, I saw my art evoke a collective emotion. The local press covered it, and my phone wouldn’t stop ringing.

Gradually, my art took on a more social and committed dimension. I began painting in working-class neighborhoods, collaborating with associations, and joining social projects with refugee children. Yet, I still felt something was missing.

That’s when I decided to integrate my visual disorder into my creations.
I wanted my works to convey what I experience every day — that strange, unsettling sensation of seeing double. This decision led me to adopt a new artistic identity: Poliops, a direct homage to the visual condition that shapes how I perceive the world.

Since 2019, I have been living in Lausanne, Switzerland. I divide my time between temporary jobs and my studio, where I continue to develop my artistic research.

My approach is based on two main techniques: for my paintings, I use precisely cut stencils to create black-and-white images, where the deliberate duplication of shapes plays with the viewer’s perception. For my murals, I use projection to outline the main lines before applying color on the walls.

My Italian roots remain deeply present in my work.
I firmly believe that art holds a unique power — to unite us, to challenge our certainties, and to make us feel what words often cannot express.