Marcello Barenghi’s first brush with fame came when he was 11. He had entered his caricature of Italian football player, Gaetano Scirea into a TV contest. The contest organisers assumed from his work that he was an adult. After that, his relentless drawing was encouraged at home. He entered two drawing competitions with a religious theme, and received two honorable mentions by the then Archbishop Carlo Maria Martini. Eventually, he was able to attend the Art School Boccioni in Milan. And following that, the School of Illustration Arte e Messaggio in Milan, at the Sforzesco Castle, where his style of hyperrealism was noticed and cultivated by teacher, Anna Montecroci.

In the early 90s, he began to study the styles of other illustrators: Hajime Sorayama, Tanino Liberatore, Richard Corben, Eleuteri Serpieri  and Simon Bisley – to expand his technical understand, vision or both.

Then something very strange happened to the young man who had begun drawing at the age of 18 months. “In the mid-90s, the crisis and computer graphics seem to mark the end of the traditional illustration. So I decided to stop drawing and I continued to study, graduating in Architecture and passing the Italian professional exam at the Polytechnic University of Milan. I could spend a lot of words talking about the disappointment that marred my working career, but I prefer to focus on the positive things.

So, twenty years after quitting, as I watched some drawing videos on YouTube, I decided to open a channel and start a new adventure…”

I have been called “The hyper-realist artist of the common things in the era of YouTube”…Every single object has its own beauty, even an empty bag of potato chips. I simply want to say, “Hey, have you seen how beautiful is the ketchup you have in the fridge?”

“My drawings are not perfect, I’m never happy with the result, I often get angry because I can see a lot of flaws that I always hope to correct in the next work. However, limitations and imperfections represent the style and anyone who has a keen eye will always identify my drawings, without the need to look at the signature.”