Michela Martello

Mixed Media

I have a strong connection with Tibetan Buddhism and my teacher is the latest Chogyal Namka Norbu. Without my meditation practice, I don’t think I would be where I am now, in every sense. Above all, I’ve discovered in recent years that accepting uncomfortable parts of myself is also a part of my creative process, where I manage to integrate various aspects, even dissonant ones, into a more global narrative. Daily practice helps me to stay focused and to develop an energy flow that makes me feel more in union with me and reality, understanding at the same time that this reality is illusory, like a beautiful paradox that makes me smile.

I work with mixed media on linen, paper, textiles, vintage fabric, wood, walls, and ceramic. During my creative process I try to be as spontaneous as possible. My pieces include drawings and paintings as well as collage, sewing, and embroidery. Rather than turning my attention to these domestic forms, I choose instead to make them part of a larger illustrative endeavor, one that draws upon familiar folktales and folk-art forms, often with a spiritual and decorative dimension that can be translated to a larger dimension.

Symbols are magic to me. Studying Tibetan pigmented murals from an ancient monastery made the symbols more apparent to me. They form a mysterious and refined language at times deep, at times on the surface, until suddenly their story appears from the unconscious.

Most of my work is connected to the idea of intimacy. That is probably the message I want to express; being able to bring to the surface hidden and profound intimacies. In doing so, the process becomes very important. Although the message is never clear, rather hidden in each of my works. Being able to bring a finished product, with its mysterious messages, to the surface explains and justifies for me the struggle of being an artist.

Michela Martello is a multidisciplinary artist whose research is influenced by both traditional and contemporary sources characterized by a symbolism that distinguish her practice adding a universal language.

She studied Illustration at IED, the European Institute of Design, and from 1993 focused her research entirely on painting. She collaborates with Pen&Brush, a New York association which supports women’s work in literary and visual arts, founded in NYC 125 years ago.

Among her exhibitions are: OverlapLife Tapestries, A.I.R. gallery, Brooklyn, 2017; Domesticity Revisited, Pen&Brush, NY, 2015; Time Zone, MAAM, Museum Roma, 2015; Transcending Tibet, Trace Foundation, NY, 2015; Weight of Happiness, Tibet House Museum, NY, 2014.

Solo shows: Consequential Stranger, Art Space, Raleigh NC, 2019; Time Zone, MACRO, Museum of Contemporary Art Rome, 2019; Everything Has A Vortex, Artist residency and show, Soulangh Cultural Park, Tainan, Taiwan, 2018/19; SUPER- S.H.E., Galleria Giovanni Bonelli Milano Italy, 2018; Future is Goddess, Pen&Brush, NY, 2017.

Public art projects: The Wave Walk, La Mer, 2017; Wooden Walls Project, Curated by Parlor Gallery, Asbury Park NJ 2016/17/18/19; Overlap Life Tapestries, Pennsylvania State University, 2018; Michela Martello and Tricia Wright, Pen&Brush, NYC, 2018.

More on Michela Martello’s work can be found on our Links page.