Attilio Melfi was born in Brindisi on 28 April 1964. He moved to Bologna in 1984 and soon made the city his home. He studied Civil Engineering there, graduating in 1990.

He lives and works in Bologna.

After a long career that took him around the world to work on major construction and infrastructure projects, Melfi returned to his passion for art and painting in 2017. He began with urban scenes, capturing cities at different times of day using traditional techniques, particularly oil on canvas.

His early paintings are rooted in hyperrealism. Melfi sets out to depict the world as he sees it, without filters or artifice. His attention is focused on how a place changes with the light and how a shift in viewpoint can reveal something different within an apparently familiar scene.

More recently, he has begun experimenting with new techniques and subjects, including what he calls his ‘contemporary seascapes’. His latest work moves between coastal landscapes marked by signs of present-day life and historic city centres where the contemporary world makes its presence felt.

Yet the underlying impulse remains unchanged. However faithful his paintings may be to what lies before him, Melfi gives reality a dreamlike, distinctly contemporary dimension.

Selected Solo Exhibitions

Attimo zero, Galleria Incinque Open Art Monti, Rome, 4–5 November 2022
Le marine del duemila, Palazzo Nervegna, Brindisi, 10–18 September 2021
Fuori Tempo, Galleria B4, Bologna, 19 February–20 March 2021
L’altra stagione, Galleria Incinque Open Art Monti, Rome, 18–20 September 2020
Uquadro2, Galleria B4, Bologna, 23 November 2019–18 January 2020

Selected Group Exhibitions

Paratissima 2020 – Rebirthing, Turin, 18 June–25 July 2021