© michela frungillo art web site
My name is Michela. I am an Italian artist and art therapist, based between Naples and Ferrara, with a BA in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples and an MA in Art Therapy from the Academy of Fine Arts of Rome.
My painting practice revolves around the iconography of underground systems and urban landscapes, which I use to explore contemporary life and the relationships individuals form with their environment. Central to my work are the concepts of waiting, time, and observation—those quiet, suspended moments often overlooked in the rush of modern life.
Through paintings marked by energetic, sometimes chaotic gestures and muted palettes punctuated by small vivid accents, I seek to capture the grey, compressed and complicated atmosphere of metropolitan reality.
My work is not merely a reflection of the urban flow, but an invitation to pause, reclaim personal time and space, and observe one’s surroundings—resisting the speed and chaos of the systems we inhabit. Dripping has become a key expressive element in my recent works, contributing to a vision of reality that is lived, mutable, fragile, and compelling.
The imagery in my paintings often carries autobiographical traces. Over a decade of commuting has immersed me in the metropolitan landscape for long hours each day, teaching me balance, stillness, and a heightened capacity for observation—tools I now bring into my practice as an art therapist.
I am also drawn to the passage of time and lived experience, often painting frames from my own life or those of others—capturing fleeting moments as if they were stills from a video, frozen to be observed, felt, and reflected upon.
In 2022, I completed my BA thesis, “Art and Society in the Post-Technological Era: An Analysis of the Relationship Between Art and Society and the Search for New Approaches to an Educational and Socially Engaged Artistic Practice.
My research explored the responsibilities of artists and society in transmitting art to future generations in ways that are human, sensitive, and socially meaningful rather than purely commercial.
Today, my artistic and therapeutic practice are deeply intertwined: I create to understand, to reflect, and to inspire others to find their own voice and perspective through art.
I work with children and teenagers, drawing on my own experience of the transformative power of art. I am also open to collaboration with galleries or agents interested in representing my work.