Born in 1971, Verona, Italy, Giovanni Motta is a painter, sculptor, and digital artist, who combines hyper-realistic painting with digital aesthetics to explore themes related to memories, emotions, and the prodigious nature of human existence. A self-identified Neo-Pop Surrealist, Motta draws extensively from the vocabularies of Japanese anime and Western fantasy literature. His work presents colourful, dreamlike worlds populated by strangely familiar motifs that evoke the vast subcultural landscape of the digital age. The majority of his oeuvre revolves around a cartoon-like 12-year-old boy character, JonnyBoy, who traverses between futuristic visions and nostalgic recollections. Endowing the boy with profound imaginative capacity and emotional intensity, Motta invites the viewer to recall the once-forgotten inner child within their adult minds.
Currently based in Verona, Italy, Motta is represented by Gallery Func. Motta’s works have been exhibited internationally, including Museo della Permanente in Milan, La Triennale in Milan, W1 Curates in London, Mart Museum in Trento, CAFA Museum in Beijing, and Palazzo Giustinian in Venice. His most recent solo exhibition, INNER CHILD, was held at Chi K11 Art Museum in Shanghai from 24 April to 21 July 2024, marking the artist’s first large-scale museum exhibition in Asia.