Cicero’s works of the 1950s—collected by the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, the Whitney, and other major museums—combined the gestures of Abstract Expressionism with the complex emergent forms of Surrealist automatism. In the 1960s, Cicero was one of the first members of the American avant-garde to return to figuration, pursuing, through the 1960s and 1970s, a style called “figurative expressionism.” This evolved beginning in the 1990s into his more recent “visionary” mode, in which he depicts, with a startling clarity, mysterious scenes animated by multiple contradictory feelings—unfulfilled desires, jealousy, despair, and isolation—as well as a generous dose of humor.

Cicero has had over 70 solo exhibitions, been in over 220 group exhibitions and included in 33 museum collections.