Massimiliano Melluso
Sculptor, born 1992. Venice.
Massimiliano Melluso was born in Venice on 20 May 1992 and spent his childhood between Morocco and Italy, drawn from an early age to drawing and decoupage. Influenced by the warm, earthy forms of Africa and by a sensitivity to human lines, he began his pursuit of form through sculpture.
After graduating from the Liceo Artistico Statale of Venice under professors Antonio Giancaterino and Paolo Frascati, he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice, Sculpture department, under Professor Giuseppe La Bruna.
"Through this form of expression I studied, every day for four years, the forms of the human body — predominantly male — specialising in a gestural, vibrant modelling. Sculpture has become an integral part of my thinking: ideas of movement and emotional concept chase one another, returning to a kind of aesthetic romanticism where empathy toward the human form takes precedence."
Melluso has taken part in numerous international symposia and exhibitions, and has created monuments and public sculptures in his home region. Since 2020 he has collaborated with Nima Venice, where his works are on display.
— Massimiliano Melluso"Working with earth for many years, I have realised that there is no material more sincere and humble. Earth shapes itself under our hands with such gentleness and submission that anyone who runs it through their fingers is left with the utopian feeling of being a kind of god."
"I call it earth because clay is too reductive a term for a material that is, in the end, the mother of everything around us. In Latin humus means earth — hence the parallel with homo, man."
"It is on this point that everything connects, and I understand why I practise figurative sculpture: to give back to the earth what she has given me."