The artist Xhovalin Delia, film-maker, painter and writer, was born on 29 April 1959 in Albania. Now an Italian citizen, he lives and works in Florence, Italy.

His studies have always centred on art; after completing an arts secondary school he enrolled in the Fine Arts Academy of Tirana where he completed his graphic arts degree in 1985.

In 1986 he began working in the cinema studios of AFA Film Animation as a painter and animator, and later as a director and screenwriter, where he made some “art films” using different techniques: Una notte bianca (A White Night), 1986; Le api e la colomba (The Bees and the Dove), 1987; Sinfonia del bosco (Symphony of the Woods), 1988; Bilancia (Scale), 1989; Chi lo merita (Whoever Deserves It), 1990. Some of his films have been awarded prizes at national and international film festivals (Filmfest Tirana and the International Film Festival of Annecy, France).

At the same time, the artist Delia painted and exhibited in group and solo shows in various local galleries and in GAK (the National Gallery of Art in Tirana). In 1992, GAK was also where his solo show “My World” was held, which for the first time displayed all the Symbolist, Metaphysical and Surrealist works that he had created in secret, thus avoiding the totalitarian Communist censorship.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the artist began a journey as a “free man” to learn of and explore other worlds: the “mystery” of the West, which he had so much desired and which the Communist totalitarianism had forbidden. From that moment, the artist made a series of trips to numerous countries with the aim of exploring their art and cultural worlds, finally stopping in Florence, where today he lives by his paintings, writings and films. His studio is located in the heart of the centre, in Via dei Leoni 18/R, opposite the back entrance to Palazzo della Signoria, which is connected to the Uffizi Museum, its main entrance marked by a statue of Michelangelo’s David. Florence, the cradle of art, became an school of art, literature and philosophy for Delia, and at the same time was an open studio in Florence’s historic centre.

In Florence, the creative life of the artist Delia became richer and filled with events: exhibitions, videos, performances, short films.  His creativity grew even deeper and more extensive, and his vision ever clearer and more guided; thus the artist needed further means: his paints were not enough. He began writing screenplays for art films, both feature-length and short films. In 2005, an established painter and film-maker, he published his first literary work: Venere (Venus, 2005) – a novel, and after four years of research and studies he published another philosophical novel, “God Bless America”, in 2009. His art, oriented towards the Postmodern, knows no boundaries, quite the contrary: the very diversity that divides cultures and peoples and the universal values that unite them are the essence of his creativity, which is expressed through painting, video installations, performances, film and literature.

After studying at the Fine Arts Academy, Delia’s art had figurative beginnings in which the influence of Impressionism could be felt, along with Metaphysical and Surrealist art later, until his artistic maturity led him to the creation of a style now known as “Delia’s style in 3D”. An artistic innovation, a new code for his art. Delia’s art can be found throughout the world, and he is now considered an international artist. He has participated in important international events, such as the Carrousel du Louvre Paris, the International Biennale in Milan, the International Biennale in Florence, and others in Monte Carlo, Rome, and Venice, to name a few.  The artist Delia was the winner of the FIRST PRIZE at the 2013 International Biennale of Contemporary Art in Florence.

Xhovalin Delia  has created hundreds, even thousands of works using different techniques (watercolours, drawings, etchings, pastels, and paintings in tempera, acrylic, and oil), hundreds of installations, dozens of video art and performances, five animated films, several short films, two novels (Venere and God Bless America), and hundreds of opinion and analysis articles in Albanian newspapers.

The art of Xhovalin Delia has often been noted and featured in the national and international press: CORRIERE DELLA SERA, ARTE, LIBERO, EFFETTOL’ARTE, SHEKULLI, PANORAMA, GAZETA SHQIPTARE, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, TV TOP CHANAL, TV Koha, TVSH, GOLD 7, TOSCANA FIRENZE, RAI TRE, etc.