Michele Petrelli

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Michele Petrelli is an expressionistic portrait painter who incorporates drawing and other mixed-media into his works.

Michele takes inspiration from Vermeer, Rembrandt, Van Dyck and Rubens.

Michele’s emotive paintings feature mysterious characters transformed by the painter’s hand.

Italian artist Michele Petrelli paints expressionistic portraits which explore the full spectrum of human emotion. The artist refers to his style as "luminous" modern impressionism for it explores light and evolving states of being. His idiomatic works, which take inspiration from popular culture, sci-fi and the occult, tell a story, and are full of mind-bending pathos and heaped with variety.

Michele Petrelli's Style

Michele demonstrates an intuitive instinct for handling his pencil and paintbrush, and a palpable fascination with the human form and physiognomy. Some of his subjects often lose their contours, with details engulfed by colour and expressive brushstrokes. There is a touch of Jenny Saville's fleshy and provocative portraits in these works. Other pieces are astonishingly precise; impressions of the mind accurately imprinted and conserved on canvas. Drawing is a key element of his work and often dominates his compositions.

Exhibitions And Collections

The artist has exhibited throughout Europe, from Greece to Denmark and Italy. He is currently featured in a permanent art collection in Athens, Greece, at the Copelouzos Family Art Museum.