(Italian, b. 1975) Massimiliano Pelletti was born in the town of Pietrasanta (Lucca), Italy, where he still lives and works. As a child, he began learning marble-working techniques from his grandfather, Mario, in the family artisan workshop. After obtaining his diploma from the Stagio Stagi Art School in Pietrasanta, he graduated from the University of Pisa with a degree in Philosophy, a subject that has also fascinated and influenced him in the artistic sphere. Pelletti made his artistic debut in 2006, winning the 12th edition of the Biennale of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean. He went on to participate in a series of other prestigious exhibitions, both in Italy and abroad, including the Alexandria Biennale in Egypt and the 54th Venice Biennale as part of the Italian Pavilion, curated by Vittorio Sgarbi. Since 2017, Pelletti has taken part in several prestigious contemporary art fairs including SCOPE (Miami, FL and New York, NY), Art Miami (Miami, FL), Investec Cape Town Art Fair (Cape Town, South Africa) and Wopart (Lugano, Switzerland).
Pelletti’s early sculptures feature marble – a noble material from the artist’s homeland – as the main element in the creation of his works. He subsequently broadened his range of materials to quartz, onyx, limestone and other rocks and stones never before used in sculpture, drawing on every rocky element given to us by nature. Pelletti handles his shapes with meticulous compositional care and innovation while maintaining his ties to traditional sculpture thanks to a collection of plaster classical models inherited from his grandfather, which he still utilizes in his work today.
