Matteo PUGLIESE

One of the most exciting contemporary sculptors to have emerged from Europe in recent decades, Italian artist Matteo Pugliese reinvents the artistic legacy of his classical and Renaissance forefathers with fresh passion and raw imagination. Born in Milan in 1969, Pugliese showed an aptitude for drawing and sculpture from an early age, fashioning human figures from terracotta. In 1995 he graduated with a degree in modern literature from the University of Milan, with a thesis on art criticism.

Pugliese's works fall into three key series: Extra Moenia, the Guardians, and the Beetles. Pugliese is perhaps best known for his Extra Moenia ('outside the walls') classical-contemporary bronze sculptures, which showcase his ability to express the most complex physical and emotional human states through deconstructed sculptural groups. A master of the full emotional range of sculptural expression, Pugliese's Guardians series abandons classical representation entirely and explores primordial sculpture to portray protector figures and custodians of different cultures and religions. The Beetles series harks back to Pugliese's childhood in Sardinia, with miniature worlds and memories nestled within each of his creations.