Marcello Manca is a mixed-media portrait artist whose work fuses painting and photography on hybrid canvases built from an array of unconventional materials.

By melting brushstrokes and photographic images into one another across layers of canvas, jute, cardboard, and wood, Manca dissolves the boundaries between subject and background, medium and support, all in service of exploring an emotion and revealing the story behind it.

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Born in Milan on July 11, 1962, Manca experimented with paints and cameras from an early age, and in the mid-1980s embarked on a brief career in fashion photography. In the early 1990s he created his first large-format oil paintings—vibrant abstract works—while continuing to refine his black-and-white portrait photography.

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In the years that followed, he collaborated with various firms and design studios, where he acquired advanced digital-editing skills and developed a strong aptitude for human interaction—two elements that would later become central to his portraiture.

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In 2009 he dedicated himself fully to portrait work, soon developing the ethereal, emotive style that established him as a distinctive presence on the Milan art scene.

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His works have been exhibited at notable venues across Italy, including museums and galleries in Lecce, Rome, Como, and Milan. He has produced commissioned pieces for major corporate clients and created portraits for a range of high-profile figures from the worlds of sport and entertainment.

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During the opening events of the 2015 Milan EXPO, he was invited to showcase his work at an exclusive private event, where he also presented his portrait of Andrea Bocelli to the tenor himself, who attended alongside his wife, Veronica Berti.

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One of his most significant projects is Prague Palindromes, a series of 120 canvases created for MH Suites Palace, a new design hotel in the Czech capital.

 

Marcello Manca currently lives with his family in northern Italy, near the shores of Lake Varese.