"Dreaming" painting by Massimo Polello

Massimo Polello was born in 1970 in Turin, where he still lives and works.

He is currently Italy’s best-known contemporary calligrapher and has exhibited his work extensively around the world.

Polello mixes contemporary expressionist painting with traditional calligraphy to create a unique style of painting. He superimposes classic calligraphic techniques with painterly experimentations, and the use of innovative materials such as resins, varnishes, and unconventional media. Moving away from the stereotyped use of paper and canvasses, he is always on the lookout for recycled materials to which he likes to confer a new identity. 

After studying the traditional calligraphic styles, Polello geared himself towards the artistic expression of this discipline by creating his own language and an ontologically expressive approach aimed at imparting the culture of calligraphic art in a contemporary context. The texts Polello uses for inspiration are often taken from contemporary music, poetry and literature. 

In Polello's works, the alphabet transcends the typical function of the written language and its relative symbolic and abstract value by becoming an image that confers value to the shape and gesture of the sign. 

He has collaborated with artist and film-maker Peter Greenaway in video installation and catalogue "Peopling the Palace" for the opening of Venaria Castle, Turin. 

In recent years he has taken part in major competitions of world standing, given workshops and training on calligraphy and displayed his work in collective and solo national and international exhibitions.