Sergio Luciano Trigiani was born and raised in Maryland, the son of an Italian immigrant from Roseto Valafortore, a town in the region of Puglia. Sergio is mainly a self-taught artist who inherited his artistic talents from his dad, who built his career creating custom ornamental iron works.
Growing up, Sergio was always creative – through drawing, writing, and music, he drew attention from his teachers, classmates, and peers. However, he never thought much of it or believed he was creating anything exceptionally different than the ordinary child.
It was not until the fall of 1998 that Sergio decided to return to school and enrolled in the local community college and needing an elective in his curriculum, signed up for an intro to drawing class. After the very first project, Sergio’s pen and ink drawing was recognized by his teacher as showing a more advanced skill set. She recommended that he try a painting class taught by Professor Edwin Ahlstrom. Professor Ahlstrom, who holds an MFA and BFA from the Chicago Institute of Art, taught landscape painting, portraiture, and watercolor. Edwin received 2nd Place in the Plein Air Easton competition in 2005 for work titled “Old Farm.”
After only a few classes, Edwin strongly suggested Sergio enroll in his portraiture class. The two quickly formed a strong friendship, and Ed became his mentor. Ed then invited Sergio to travel to Italy for 8 weeks, staying mainly in Florence but also taking day and multi-day trips all over the country. They painted “en plein air”, visited museums, including the famed Vasari Corridor at the Uffizi Gallery, which houses the world’s largest collection of self-portraits from renowned artists of all generations, and spent many hours painting both studies and some larger, complete works.
After returning from Italy, Sergio decided to begin his career in the arts, forgoing any formal art degree. He worked tirelessly to produce work, market himself, and build a following of collectors. In 2005, Sergio was featured in Élan Magazine, a literary magazine publishing the best writing and art from students around the world. As Sergio’s art career started to mature and his popularity grew, the attention and potential became overwhelming. At that time, he decided to pull back from art and pursue an alternate entrepreneurial career in business.
For 15 years, Sergio continued to paint for his own personal fulfillment while also selectively accepting a few portrait commissions and selling his landscapes and still-life works. In 2024, Sergio built a new studio and started work on and completed a painting that he began back in 2007. This proved to be the beginning of a resurgence for his love of painting, which has always been a creative and therapeutic outlet for him. Since 2024, he has completed over 20 paintings. He is now a member of the Maryland Art Federation and back to working full-time as an artist.
