Massimo - Painting

I was born in Rimini. Raised between the sea, salt air, and ancient stone, I’ve always looked for what lies beneath. My artistic training began at the Istituto d’Arte Scuola del Libro in Urbino, continued in Venice with Emanuele Luzzati, and in Sarmede with Arcadio Lobato. In Florence, I studied the fresco technique. I’ve breathed art in many forms — and chose my own. I spent nearly a decade in London, working on ceramic murals and custom-made pools for the Emirates market. Now I create in my studio in Rimini, together with my sister Catia. Wood, ceramic, metal, resin, color — every piece begins with a dialogue with matter. I paint faces, but resemblance doesn’t interest me. I look for vibration, inner tension, emotional fragments. I use oil, acrylic, solvents, metal leaf, tar, enamel, raw pigments. Each painting is a field of force. The surface breathes, fights, yields, resists. My language is called Grunge Art. It’s instinct, contrast, layering, excess. Mistakes are part of the process. The unexpected is sacred. Every material participates actively — it oxidizes, breaks, reflects, transforms. There are no filters. No easy solutions. I’m after what’s true. The kind that stings. The kind that pulses. Each portrait is a lit-up mirror. Looking at it feels like listening to yourself with no protection. I also create commissioned portraits, based on provided images. The reference starts the process. Essence emerges. I’m not here to decorate. When you choose one of my pieces, it's because something inside you shifts. And it keeps shifting, every time you walk past it. It makes you face yourself. It pulls out parts of you that were buried. It’s a mirror that works on you, that pushes, that digs. It’s charismatic, uncomfortable, magical. It works on you. Every time.