BIOGRAPHY
Born in Grosseto, Italy. Studied illustration at the IED, Europe Institute of Design after which she published works in over 30 books. In 1993 she shifted her focus to painting. In 1998 she moved permanently to New York where she started her research as an artist painter full time. In 2006 she was selected by the American Association of University Women in the “Emerging Women Artists Juried Exhibition” New York Design Center . Her work has being collected and commissioned by both public and private clients; Soros collection, Serafina group, CityCinema group, Jerry Saltz collection. Martello collaborates with: galleria Giovanni Bonelli, Italy, Pen&Brush gallery NYC, Parlor gallery, NJ.
In 2014 she won the selection for juried exhibition "Understanding Media, the Extension of Human Being” organized by CallforBushwick, during BOS, in Brooklyn, NYC, she exhibited at Tibet House Museum US, and she took part of ''Transcending Tibet'' NYC curated by Davide Quadrio.
In 2015 she has being commissioned a trittico for the permanent collection of Metropoliz MAAM Museum of Rome by curators Giorgio de Finis, she's being selected by curator Rick Kinsel, director of Vilcek foundation to be part of ''Domesticity Revisited'' at Pen&Brush NYC, and exhibited at AQUA Miami Art Fair, and in 2016 at Context NYC. In 2016/2017 she’s selected to be part of Woodenwallsproject a public art program with 3 Murals installation in Asbury Park, NJ, same year she exhibited at A.I.R. gallery '' Overlap; Life tapestries'' curated by Vida Sabbaghi, an itinerant group show that travel to PennState gallery in 2018.
Same year Pen&Brush hosted a large scale solo show of 8 years of Martello's paintings, ‘’Future is Goddess’’ and she’s a featured artist in the Public Art Project LaMer-WaveWalk NYC with WeAreProjectZero, alongside notable artists and influencers.
In 2018 she is part of SuperSHE a group show at Galleria Giovanni Bonelli, Milan, and Beauty in the Beast a group show curated by COPE-NYC at Soulangh Cultural park in Taiwan, where she also does an Art Residency painting a mural for the National Museum of Children. Ending 2018 with 2 person show Michela Martello / Tricia Wright at Pen&Brush NYC. In 2019 she has a solo show in Raleigh, NC, ArtSpace, ''Consequential Stranger'' and a 2 person show '' Everything Has A Vortex " with artist Shigeru Oyatani in Tainan city - Taiwan, curated by COPE-NYC, she's also part of the third iteration ''Overlap; LIfe Tapestries'' at Pen&Brush NYC, her piece Time Zone is selected to be exhibited in the group show MAAM at MACRO, Museum of Modern Art, Rome. In 2020, Martello is invited by the curatorial program of Tainan Art Museum to be part of the group show ''Art Point'', and a first female solo exhibit at galleria Giovanni Bonelli in Milan,''Of The Earth'' in the same year she's selected by Jarry Saltz for the prestigious publication New American painting. In 2022, she's curating the group show The Fire and the Cow at galleria Giovanni Bonelli, she is selected by Wendy Olsoff and Eden Reeding by PPOW for the Artsy auction to benefit Pen+Brush, and received a grant from Montmouth Arts to create an installation for WoodenWallsProject, Asbury Park, NJ. She is invited as artist in residence at Siao-Long Cultural Park, Taiwan, where she produce The Heavenly Princesses and the BAM Ripple, For which she received another Artist Merit Prize. In 2023 she is the recipient of Tristate Italian Art Prize, juried by Paola Antonelli, Massimiliano Gioni, Nancy Olnick, and part of the group show curated by Chiara Mannarino.
Education
SELECTED SOLO SHOWS AND TWO-PERSON EXHIBITION
photo by Katelyn Kopenhaver
1986 - MFA Illustration, Europe Institute of Design, Milano Italy
1983 - BFA College of Arts, Brera Hayech, Milano Italy
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SELECTED GROUP SHOWS
2022 - The Heavenly Princesses and the Bam Ripple, Siao-Long Cultural Park, CopeNYC, Tainan, Taiwan
Grant Recipient, Eternal Swoon, Carousel, Asbury Park, NJ, WoodenWallsProject, Pen+BrushNYC, Monmouth Arts
2020 - Of The Earth - Sulla Terra, Galleria Giovanni Bonelli, Milan, curated by Dawn Delikat & Parker Daley Garcia
2019 - Everything Has A Vortex, Soulangh Cultural Park, curated by COPE- NYC, Tainan, Taiwan, with artist Shigeru Oyatani
Consequential Stranger, ArtSpace, Raleigh, NC, curated by Anna Lee
Itaca Penelope, SetUp Art Fair Bologna, Italy, Giovanni Bonelli Gallery
2018 - Michela Martello / Tricia Wright, Pen&Brush, NYC
Talisman: An Intimate Act With Michela Martello, HereNow, NYC
2017 - Future is Goddess, Pen&Brush, NYC
2016 - Soul Textiles: A Fiber Journey, Trace Foundation, NYC
Time Zone, Curated by Giorgio de Finis, MAAM Museum, Permanent collection, Rome
2014 - Weight of Happiness, Tibet House Museum, NYC
2011 - Metropolitan Buddha, Cappelletti Arte Contemporanea, Milano
Art Your Food, Italian Cultural Institute, NYC
2010 - Painting Performance, Kaufman Music school, NYC
Idols and Icons, Tria Gallery, NYC
2009 - No Panic, Bonelli Arte Contemporanea, Mantova, IT
Painting Accidents, Italian Culture Center, Centro Raccontami, NYC
2002 - Untitled, Arturo Di Modica Studio, NYC
1998 - Le Stanze, Compagnia Generale, Milan, IT
PUBLIC & PRIVATE COLLECTION
ACTIVITIES
SELECTED COMMISSIONS - PUBLIC ART PROJECTS
PRIZE AND HONORS
Anand Giridharadas & Pryia Parker collection
Jerry Saltz collection
Andrea Soros collection
Davide Bernacca collection
Emilio Bordoli collection
Giovanni Bonelli collection
Soulangh Cultural Park, Children Museum of The Arts, Permanent collection, Taiwan
MAAM Museum, Permanent collection, Rome Italy
2023 - Painting Performance for B&B Italia Gaeteano Pesce
UP chair, Pen+Brusch Fund raising, NYC
2022 - Art Residency, Siao-Long Cultural Park, Tainan, Taiwan
Celebrating the Art of Compassion at Tibet House NYC organized by Nalanda Institute
2021 - Art Residency, The Third Eye Residency Project, Cope NYC
2020 - Brooklyn Rail, New Social Environment #89
Queens Museum, CopeNYC, Teaching virtual workshop
2019 - Art Residency, Soulangh Cultural Park, by CopeNYC presenting the show ''Everything Has A Vortex''
2018 - Artist Talk, Michela Martello / Tricia Wright, Pen&Brush NYC
Art Residency, Soulangh Cultural Park, Curated by Cope NYC
Frottage kids workshop, HereNow space NYC
Frottage workshop, Brooklyn college, curated by Cope NYC
2017 - Art Residency, Gift Wooden Walls, Parlor gallery,
Woodenwallsproject, Asbury Park, NJ
Artist talk, Pen and Brush, Future is Goddess NYC
Graffiti Workshop, Pen&Brush, Graffiti Vacation NYC
Frottage workshop, Queens Museum curated by Vida Sabbaghi, NYC
2016 - Series of Frottage workshop, Queens Museum curated by Vida sabbaghi, NYC
2022 - Public Art Installation, Ethernal Swoon, Asbury Park NJ
WoodenWallsProject in collaboration with Pen+Brush NYC
2021 - Community Mural, Brooklyn Book Festival, commissioned by House of Speakeasy
2018 - Paper Dolls Story, Pen&Brush, NYC, Wall Installation for the launch of the new InPrint Book
Colorful Supremacy, Mural for TED at Asbury park convention hall, NJ
Graffiti Goddesses, Mural for New day, shelter for battered women in Bronx
Auspicious Field, Mural for the Children Museum of the Arts, Soulangh Cultural Park, Taiwan
2017 - The Wave Walk, Group public art project, Painted fiber glass wave sculpture commissioned by We Are
Project Zero - La Mer
Woodenwallsproject, Mural for the board walk in Asbury park New Jersey, Curated by Parlor gallery
2016 - Series of Painting on Canvas Installed on wood panels for LAM residence, Tribeca lofts, NYC
Murals, Graphics, logos, ongoing collaboration with CityCinemagroup, NYC
Woodenwallsproject, Dakini mural for the board walk in Asbury Park, NJ
2015 - Mural series project for Creative Chaos LLC, Dumbo, Brooklyn
Mural and Illustration packaging for TOCCA Company, NYC
Murals for Serafina group, Sao Paulo
2014 - Murals for Serafina group, Rio de Janeiro, Bengaluru, Tokyo
2013 - Murals for Serafina group,Seoul, Dubai
Murals for Geiko San, Sao Paulo
2012 - Murals for Serafina group, Moscow, Sao Paulo, Mumbai, Miami, New York
2023 - Winner of Tristate Italian Art Prize, committee by Paola Antonelli, Massimiliano
Gioni, Nancy Olnick
2022 - Siao Long Cultural Park & Tainan City Cultural Affairs Bureau Artistic Merit
Monmouth Arts Grant recipient for the art installation Eternal Swoon
2019 - Soulangh Cultural Park & Tainan City Cultural Affairs Bureau Artistic Merit
2014 - Bushwick Open Studio, Winner, Understanding Media the Extension of Human
Been
2005 - Emerging Women Artists, Winner, American association of Women, NYC Design
Center
2023 - Tristate Italian Art Italian PRIZE, Consulate general of Italy, NYC
Curated by Chiara Mannarino
Tell Me Something, Galleria Giovanni Bonelli, Milano, Italy
Filanda Art AM 4, Old Filanda, Soncino Italy
curated by Luigi cazzaniga and Ilka Scobie
The Divine The passion and the Magic, Visitor Center,
Newburgh, NY
2022 - Modern Nature, Kipinz Gallery, Walton NY
Sensing Woman, curated by Christine Massy, C24 gallery NY
Artsy Auction to Support P+B,NYC, curated by PPOW gallery
Curatorial, The Fire And The Cow, Galleria Giovanni Bonelli,
Milan, Italy.
At The Root, Sozo gallery, Charlotte, NC.
2021 - Nest, Gowanus Open Studio
Care, Online group show DearArtists, curated by Kaylan Buteyn
Multi, Pen+Brush, NYC
Maybe In May, Basilica di San Celso, Milan
This is Who We Are, Pen+Brush, NYC
2020 - Art Point, Tainan Art Museum, Taiwan
Tuft, GroupProjects, Philadelphia
This is Who We Are, Manhattan Borough's President Office, curated by Pen&Brush
2019 - Ingombri, L'Altro Altrove, MACRO, Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome, Italy
Overlap: Life Tapestries, Pen&Brush NYC curated by Vida Sabbaghi
Wings to Fly, NU Hotel, BK,NY, curated by Welancora Gallery
No place Like, Fieldsprojects, Online group show
2018 - Beauty in The beast, Soulangh Cultural park, Taiwan, curated by COPENYC
The Curious Shape of Red, Bellano, Italy, curated by Velasco Vitali
WoodenWalls Artists, The Carousel, Asbury park, NJ
Guilt By Association, parlor gallery, Asbury Park, NJ
Super S.H.E., Galleria Giovanni Bonelli, Milano Italy
Arte Verona, Galleria Giovanni Bonelli, Italy
Overlap Life Tapestries, Penn State, curated by Vida Sabbaghi
On Adornment, Pen&Brush, NYC
Arts Connects New York, Fund raising , Paula Cooper, NYC
2017 - Graffiti Vacation, Pen&Brush, NYC
Anything You Can Do, Parlor gallery, Asbury Park, New Jersey
2016 - Overlap:LifeTapestries, Curated by Vida Sabbaghi, A.I.R. Gallery, NYC
Woodenwallsproject, curated by Parlorgallery, Asbury park, NJ
Musica! Notazioni nell’Arte Contemporanea, Curated by Annamaria Targher, Museo Maso Spilzi, Trento, IT
Context Art fair, Azart Gallery, NYC
We Are Infinite, Parlor gallery, Asbury park, NJ
2015 - Domesticity Revisited, Curated by Rick Kinsel, Pen&Brush, NYC
Trascending Tibet, Curated by Davide Quadrio & Paola Vanzo, Trace Fondation, NYC
Repsychling, Curated by Vida Sabbaghi, Teachers college, Columbia university, NYC
2014 - Understanding media, the Extension of Human Being, Juried Exhibit, Bushwick open studio , Brooklyn
2013 - Urban Decay, Tria gallery, NYC
Summer Salon, Rarity Gallery, Mikonos, Greece
2011 - Primo Centro, curated by Alessandra Bonomo, Castello Aldebrandesco, Arcidosso, IT
Art your Food, Itinerant exhibit, Italian Culture Institute, Los Angeles
Lattuada gallery, Milano, Wook gallery, NYC
2008 - Small Work, Juried exhibit, Curated by Jim Kempner, NYU Washington Square gallery, NYC
AAF Art fair, Tria gallery, NYC
Body and Soul, Tria gallery, NYC
2007 - Sacred Ways, Tria gallery, NYC
Small work, Juried exhibit, Curated by Ed Harris, NYU Washington Square gallery, NYC
2006 - Emerging Women Artists, Juried exhibit, NYC Design Centre
Miracolo a Milano, Palazzo della ragione, Milan, IT
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Vilcek Foundation, The coloring Book of Michela Martello, Be A Good Ancestor
MAAM Museo dell'altro e dell'altrove di Metropoliz_citta' meticcia, by Giorgio de Finis
Michela Martello, Pen + Brush
Musica! Notazioni sull’Arte Contemporanea , Michela Martello , by Annamaria Targher
Domesticity Revisited, by Rick Kinsel
Repsychling, by Vida Sabbaghi
Trascending Tibet, by Davide Quadrio and Paola Vanzo
Details, A stylist’s secrets to Creating Inspired Interiors, by Lili Diallo
Mangia L’Arte, Imaf, by Rossella Canevari and Elena Maria Manzini
Spas for your home, by Christina Paredes, Collins design
Miracolo a Milano, by Alessandro Riva