Andrea Sala was born on October 28th 1954 in Monza, Italy. Here he attended the Paolo Borsa secondary school and later he continued his studies at the renowned art school “Scuola Superiore del Castello Sforzesco” in Milan.
There in1981 he received his degree with honours and for the following five years he became the assistant of his mentor, the Maestro Ghino Baragatti.
At the same time he attended the atelier of Maestro Giulio Vito Musitelli, an Italian artist of deep culture and humanity; thanks to his wide knowledge and experience, Musitelli had a fundamental role in Sala’s education and he helped him in improving his skills as an oil painter and engraver.
In the same years the young painter attended anatomy and nude painting classes at the Brera Academy in Milan.
In 1983 Sala entered the professional art world by co-founding “Continuazione”, an artistic movement whose mission was to keep figurative values alive in painting.
Andrea Sala did not limit himself to painting and exhibiting his own works but he started teaching as suggested by his own teachers; his passion for art made him an enthusiastic educator and Sala could find a precious source of human and artistic enrichment in teaching and sharing ideas with his students.
From 1982 to 2007 Monza municipality put him in charge of the “Alessandro Conti” painting course where he enthusiastically transmitted to several students his great love for art and his knowledge of different painting techniques, especially those related to portrait and figurative drawings. In the same place he managed the advanced painting and engraving course with his usual passion and accuracy, from 1990 to 2007.
In 1994 he was asked to collaborate as a teacher in the new Monza painting school for young people affected by muscular dystrophy, as the U.I.L.D.M. - the Muscular Dystrophy Association - knew well his human and artistic talent; he stayed in charge there for six years.
In 1995 Andrea Sala founded a fresco School in Monza with the town council sponsorship and gave new life to this beautiful technique who had been neglected for years. Under his brilliant guidance the school still prospers and its students reach an excellent artistic competence by the end of the classes.
During the annual historical commemoration of Monza’s foundation in 2000, the committee “Maria Letizia Verga” asked him to realise a fresco copy of the lunette by Matteo da Campione (XIV Cent.) , a bas relief placed on top of the Duomo gate, the main religious building in Monza.
In 2003 he created the Fresco School Association and became its director with the specific aim of spreading the knowledge of this old technique. For this purpose he organises workshops in primary schools, conferences/meetings in high schools, in Rotary Clubs and in several municipalities in the Milan area.
In 2004 he realised a series of etchings portraying different city perspectives under the sponsorship of Monza’s Municipality. In the same year he was invited by the Italian tv channel Telenova to speak about his artistic career during the show “Lombardy’s stories”.
In 2005 the Archibishop of Our Lady of Consolation Sanctuary in Marsabit (Kenia) asked him to complete three portraits of religious men who had just been beatified.
In 2008 Sala painted an altar piece, a three meter high oil painting, for Saint Andrew Church in Alzate Brianza, near Como.
Worthy of note are his frescos, in particular:
“The Beatitudes” - Monastery colonnade in “Conventino di Bergamo” - 1982
“The Virgin of Carmelo” - Votive Chapel in Loita (Baveno) - 1989
“Descent from the Cross” - Funerary Chapel in Casorate Primo (Pavia) - 1995
“Annunciation” and “Nativity” - Votive Chapel to the Virgin of Faieto in Cangelasio, Salso Maggiore (PR) - 2000
“Fresco class” - Council house of Monza’s District nr 3 - 2004.
His works are kept in eminent Italian and foreing art collections together with paintings by illustrious XIX and XX century painters such as G. Fattori, Mosè Bianchi, E. Spreafico, G. Morandi, E. Gola, P. Mariani, A. Bucci.
Besides several local newspapers, also national newspapers and art magazines wrote about his works and interviewed him as an important representative of Italian painting. In particular, “Orizzonte Italian Magazine” introduced him in Russia, published some of his works and exhibited a reproduction of one of his paintings during the “Lux Fair” in Moscow in 2008.
Eminent Italian Art critics, such as G. Casiraghi, R. Tomasina, P.F. Bertazzini and A. Oberti, wrote about him.
He can be found in the most important Italian Art catalogues:
Comanducci 1983-84
C.E.L.I.T. ( Centro librario italiano di Torino) 1986 with review of A. Oberti
Alba Ferrara 1995
Elite 1999
Lions Clubs Monza Host 1999 with review of prof. P.F. Bertazzini
D’ Arte 2009 with review of Giuseppe Casiraghi
D’Arte Web 2013