Michele Tocca on Painting, History, and the Italian Tradition

Michele Tocca (b. 1983, Subiaco, Rome) studied painting at Brera Academy of Fine Arts, Central Saint Martins, and completed an MA at the Royal College of Art. His work engages with history and tradition, often painting en plein air in locations previously depicted by artists like Francesco Lojacono. He co-curated a project on 'minor stories' of Italian painting with Angelo Mosca. Tocca reflects on the renewed interest in Italian painting between the two world wars, citing figures such as Semeghini, Pirandello, Levi, and Melli. He describes his practice as a dialogue between subject and medium, where time and atmospheric agents play a central role. Tocca embraces the term 'stupid as a painter' with autoirony, seeing his work as taking precedence over rationality. He defines painting as something to be redefined each time, rooted in a lineage from Cavallini and Giotto. His recent exhibition 'Reazione a catena' at 1/9 unosunove in Rome, curated by Gino Pisapia, explores how painting can provoke and occupy space beyond the wall.