Best known for his complex draperies on irregular-shaped canvases, Umberto Mariani's work explores illusions of light and shadow created within the folds of fabric in his work. Mariani's new multi-dimensional works include lead sheets beneath intricate drapery, whereby the fabric both serves to conceal a mysterious object beneath while also evoking its presence. His first monumental narrative work in the 1960s was for the St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican, and in the 1970 exhibited widely in prominent institutions in Europe such as the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels and the Musee Moderne in Paris.