Michele Tocca’s paintings are executed directly from life, often en plein air, and represent a thoughtful, almost quixotic reactivation of painting sur le motif in all its material, imaginative, meteorological, geographical, and historical manifestations. His work reflects on the experience of the physical world while revisiting questions concerning the reciprocal relevance of painting and reality, realism and its paradoxes, and the effects of time and history. Selected exhibitions include Poca Notte at z2o Sara Zanin Gallery, Rome (2024), Repoussoir at GAM Turin (2023), Le realtà ordinarie at Palazzo de’ Toschi, Bologna (2020), and Pittura Italiana e altre storie minori at the Musei di Villa Torlonia in Rome (2015). He is also the author of critical writings on artists ranging from Thomas Jones to the present day. After studying at the Brera Academy, Central Saint Martins, and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, he earned an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art in London in 2011. He lives and works in Rome.