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Every line I draw is a step into the unknown. I don't illustrate stories. I unearth them.

About Me

 

Visionary Artist of Surreal and Figurative Narratives

I’m Michele Di Erre, an independent artist born in Turin in 1979.
My work blends surrealism, narrative art and figurative contemporary painting, exploring inner visions and poetic distortions of reality. I work across mediums, from oil painting and acrylics to blind contour drawing and ink illustration, creating one-of-a-kind artworks, prints, and graphic novels for collectors and art lovers alike. My background in theatre and scenography meets a raw, experimental visual language that transcends trends. Trained both academically and through direct artistic exchange, I now create and exhibit worldwide, offering original surreal art for sale and art commissions rooted in narrative and emotion.
 

Michele di Erre portrait
Tools (1).jpeg
Photo by Antony Stringer.jpg

Long Version of my story

Between Ink, Light, and the Surreal

 

I was born in Turin, Italy, in 1979. I have a twin sister, a mother, and had a father. I grew up quiet, introspective. Dyslexic from a young age, I struggled with written words, but learned to read images early. Drawing was always my way of decoding reality.

In my teens, I was loud, rebellious, in search of something extraordinary. For a while, I thought it might be theatre. I trained as an actor and joined a radical company in Turin, Marcido Marcidoris & Famosa Mimosa. It was intense, even brutal, like military training for the stage. My mentors were powerful, if parasitic. There wasn’t much room for creativity, just obedience. Looking back, it was formative. That experience burned away any illusions I had about the art world being gentle.

Later, I worked behind the scenes in theatres as a light designer, set builder, sound engineer. I spent over a decade learning how to craft atmospheres, how to stage emotion with nothing but shadows and space. At the same time, I was slowly returning to what had always felt most true: the act of drawing.

At 31, I began studying again, not in schools, but in museums, books, and ateliers. I discovered Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards and felt seen. Her approach, drawing as a way of seeing, not just producing, freed me. I sketched every day, from life, from imagination. I copied paintings in galleries. I joined underground art communities. I exchanged techniques with other artists in bars, squats, workshops, anywhere art was alive.

Among those who influenced me: Paolo Pisotti, Andrea Roccioletti, Alessandro Bulgini, and the wild creative crowd of Cavallerizza Irreale, where I had a studio overlooking the Mole Antonelliana. Those were rare years, rich in collaboration, experimentation, and resistance.

In 2016, I left my theatre job and became a full-time artist. No more night shifts. I began creating one-of-a-kind artwork, oil paintings, surrealist illustrations, blind contour drawings, symbolic bestiaries. I explored narrative art, dark fantasy, dream imagery. I started producing limited edition prints, commissions, and books like The Holiday Park, a surreal travelogue. My visual language grew more layered: a mix of classical technique and intuitive distortion.

I’ve been lucky to meet collectors, dreamers, and designers who resonate with what I do. People who don’t just want art on their walls, they want stories, textures, presence. Whether it’s an original figurative painting or a custom ink drawing, I offer more than decoration, I offer a fragment of a personal mythology.

Since 2017, I’ve traveled often, seeking out new visions, working on the road, always sketching. I’m a lucid dreamer. My nights are full of images, many of which end up in my work. There’s always something stirring beneath the surface.

Today, I create from my studio and from wherever I find light. I offer original surreal art for sale, custom commissions, and limited-edition prints, all handmade, all personal. My work is for collectors, for interior designers who crave the unexpected, and for anyone drawn to art with a pulse, a story, a bit of shadow.

Cow with Michele di Erre

Below is a list of artists, books and films that have marked and inspired me which I have the pleasure of sharing with you. Maybe we have something in common.

Contemporary artists: Jonas Burgert, Craola, Guillermo Lorca, William Kendrick, Lucian Freud, Arrivabene, Andrew Scott.

Old Master of art: Caravaggio, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Canova, Botticelli, Otto Dix, Degas, Van Gogh, Picasso, Giacometti, Bacon, Loutrec, Hopper, Chagall, Topor, Egon Shiele, Boldini, Bosch, Goya, el Greco, Bruegel, Salvador Dali, Hieronymus Bosch, Albrecht Durer, Bob Ross

The best illustrator: Serafini, Zero Calcare, Scott McCloud, Pazienza, Moebius, Manara, BlackSad, Tullio Pericoli, Eisner, Quino, Lorenzo Alessandri, Dautremer, Suan Tuan, Miyazaki, Peynet, Thelwell, Tezua, Toppi, Dr. Seuss, Tim Burton, Chuck Jones

My bestseller: Martín Eden, The strange in a strange Land, 1984, Harry Potter, Celestino Prophecy, Lucid dream made easy, Ami, S. la nave di Teseo, Making Comics, Sequential Art, Trattato della pittura, Il mattino dei Maghi, The Power of now, l'ordine del tempo, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, A volte ritorno, the trilogy of Baltimerus

Authors: Christopher Moore, Cortázar, Beckett, Jodorowsky, Castañeda, Jack London, Sergio Magaña, Charlie Morley

Music: Jack Black, Creedence, Led Zeppelin, Giorgio Gaber, Moriarty, Alela Diane, Danit, Sandra Bernardo, Radiohead, Simon & Garfunkel, Debussy, Paganini, Benjamin Clementine, Jefferson Airplane, R.E.M., Zap Mamá, Meredith Monk, Curawaka, The Doors, Nina Simone, Emiliana Torroni

Films: Donnie Darko, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Arizona dream, Inception, Back to the future, Army of Darkness, Spaceballs, Goonies, Apocalypse now, Molto rumore per nulla, Clerks, Big Lebowski, Brazil, Monty python, Laputa, Dark city, Fight Club, Buffalo '66, Pulp Fiction, In time, Inside out, Climax, Les Belle de la nuit, The Truman Show, Spirited Away, The doctor Strangelove, Blade runner, Shinning, November, Memento, Eternal Sunshine, 12 monkeys, Starship Troopers, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Big trouble in Chinatown, Braindead, Dead man, Freaks, Walt Disney, Pixar

Actors: Alessandro Bergonzoni, Antonio Rezza, Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Leonardo Di Caprio, Carmelo Bene, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Woody Allen, Totò, Troisi, Bud Spencer e Terence Hill, Johnny Depp, Vincent Gallo.

my Tools II
Photo by Antony Stringer

Performances & Installations
for more info go to blog page

My Tools

Solo Exhibitions & Group Exhibitions

 

2024

Jerico, Colombia, Hay festival, "el sueño pequeño¨

2022

Torino, CasaMuseo ZonaRosato, Personale "The Nomadic Identity"

Torino, ViaBava 19, "The Nomadic Identity"

Torino, Caffeine, "Dagli Antipodi al Caffe'"

Torino, Atelier del Torchio, "Dagli Antipodi"

2018-22

distanced himself from the art system

freelance in art Globaltrotter StreetArt and more in

India, Nepal, Sweden, Poland, Australia, New Zeland, UK

2018

Torino, Galleria Mercurio, Matite furiose

Here 3, Cavallerizza Irreale

2017

Torino, Caffeine, Fiabe al banco

Torino, Cavallerizza Irreale, Communitas

Quiliano, Sacs, Diffusa

Zurich, Cabaret Voltaire

Art Basel, Galleria kunsthallekleinbasel

Torino, Cavallerizza Irreale, Here

Torino, Museo della Fantascienza

Svizzera, YIA Art Fair - Basel Art Center

Torino, Festiival della cultura dal basso, CameraChiara

Imbersago, FondazioneGranataBraghieri, Il vero

Pianezza, Teatro Laboratorio Creativo, Risvolti di una spece

2016

Vicenza, Galleria Metamorfosi, Trame de soi

(Cat.) France, Tulle, Rue des Art, Trame de soi

Pinerolo, Teatro del Lavoro, Immagini dall'intero

Albissola, Pozzo Garitta

Torino, Str.eat, Bersagli

(Cat.) Swiss, Kunsthalle Kleinbasel in Basel, Intact to the Future

France, Villa Mallet-Stevens, CACHET DE LA POSTE FAISANT FOI

2015

Torino, ATB Gallery, Inumans

Torino, Palazzo di Città, Emozioni sogno e realtà

(Cat.) Concorso Buenos Aires VII

Dogliani, WineArt

Vinadio, Forte di Vinadio, Vinai Fest

(Cat.) Varedo, ExpoArteContemporanea, Final Competition

(Cat.) Torino, TAC Ass. Culturale Azimut, Metamorfosi

Artist Residency in Haarlem, Amsterdam

Collaboration with a Rome NewPaper "Il Bestiario deli italiani"

Carmagnola. Circolo Margot, Umanoidi

Torino, TorinoArtGallery, Primavera

Torino, Belfood, L'Armata Vincibile

Torino, Laboratorio artistico Pietra, L'Armata Vincibile

Grigliasco, Sala del Comune, Armonie in Scala

2014

Torino, Educatorio della Provvidenza, Dualismo e unità

Torino, Adonis, Mostri nella Musica

Langhe, Camo Uflage Progect

Alessandria, PerlaNera, I senza stato

Torino, Vanchiglia Love Night

Torino, Garigliani Belle Arti, Mostri nella Musica

Biella, Bi-Box Art Space, Riusami

Organize with The Shivers at Sartoria Creativa

an Art Saison

"42 arte contemporanea"

2013

Torino, Fattore K, "Come li vedo"

Winner of XVI edizione ArtCompatition  Io Espongo 2013

(Cat.) Torino, Assessorato alla Cultura, Io Espongo XVI 

Moretta (Cn), Cascina S.Giovanni, To be in Art 4ed.

Valle Maira, SkyMarathon

Celle di Macra (Cn), Seles s'è Desta 3ed.

Chiusa Pesio (Cn), Chius'arte

Camo (Cn), Museo a cielo aperto

Asta per Haiti, Accademia Albertina Torino

Torino, Sartoria Creativa, “Piccoli, brutti, storti e malfatti”

(Cat.) Torino, Adonis, Vagarte

Torino, Belfood, Ritratti a sguardo periferico

Torino, Bar Luigi, Progetto di Alessandro Bulgini

2012

Torino, Zodiaco

Torino, T.Espace, Young Wood 2

(Cat.) Bra (Cn), Movicentro, Identita 4

Celle di Macra (Cn), Seles s'è Desta 2a edizione

Moretta (Cn), Cascina S.Giovanni, To be in Art 2ed

Torino, T. Espace, Urge

(Cat.) Torino, P-ars, Il mondo della fine

Create "The Shivers " a free artistic thinking

2011

Torino, FotoReportage, Paratissima

Torino, Salone del Libro, ArteVisual

Finale del concorso Memoria del Corpo

Michele di Erre's portrait

 Press & Web

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© 2036 by Michele di Erre. Design By MdE & Ha Protik

Info and Requests: info@micheledierre.com

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