Mehstre: Street Artist and Illustrator Merges Graphic and Realistic Styles

Leonardo Devito, known as Mehstre, is a Florence-based street artist and illustrator born in 1997. He studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze and the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Vienna. His first solo exhibition was at Palazzo dei Pittori in Florence in September 2018 as part of the 48H project curated by Leonardo Moretti. He participated in the XI Biennale di Incisione in Monsummano Terme and a group show with Jean Dubuffet and Mimmo Paladino at Mac,n in November 2019. He has collaborated in festivals including Icchè CI VAH CI VOLE (Florence 2016), Copula Mundi (Florence 2018), RestArt-Urban Festival (Imola 2018), and Garibaldi Street Fest (Montalto di Castro 2019). Since 2019, he has worked as an illustrator for Contrabbandiera Editrice. His latest exhibition, "Polimeri," was held at The Student Hotel in Florence until March 4, 2020. The show highlights two aspects of his recent work: illustrative-graphic and realistic-descriptive. He uses oil painting, colored pencils, and copper engraving techniques. He cites Blu and Ericailcane as influences. Currently, he is working on a reprint of Ludovico Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso" with his illustrations for Contrabbandiera Editrice.