Guido Villa thinks of art as “a continuous growing up, a permanent research.” Exploration and discovery, in terms of subject material and the physical materials used, are a constant in his work. Villa addresses such topics as religious scenes and cultural figures. He combines pen and pencil with acrylics, or work in oils on canvas or panels, mixing textures and perspectives to produce a body of work that is varied while maintaining a consistent visual style. Some images show a photographic sense of detail, and others are considerably more abstract, but Villa’s clean, balanced sense of composition is always in evidence. He also works with a wide-ranging but controlled hand as regards color, going from black-and-white, to works that add just hints of muted brown, to ones that employ a full range of shades. Having designed both books and operatic productions, Guido Villa exhibits a strong interest in written language and an equally prominent concern with making the image’s story clear to the viewer.