Adamo Macri

Born in Canada on June 8, 1964, and based in Montréal, Adamo Macri is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice moves fluidly between sculpture, photography, painting, video, and drawing. Trained at Dawson College (1984), he has spent decades cultivating a visual language that treats the body, costume, and environment as interchangeable materials in a single, evolving narrative.

Macri’s work is anchored in themes of transformation and duality—the porous boundaries between the organic and the artificial, the intimate and the theatrical, the sacred and the contaminated. Often using his own physical presence as a central element, he constructs meticulously staged scenes in which the artist becomes both subject and artifact, reliquary and mask. These works are not simply images or objects; they are events frozen in time, sculpted occurrences that suggest ongoing processes of mutation, decay, and rebirth.

Rich, layered textures and bold contrasts of colour and value are hallmarks of his visual language. Macri employs a masterful use of light and shadow to carve form and mood, creating atmospheres that feel simultaneously cinematic and ritualistic. Biological materials, millinery and costume elements, and carefully engineered props are integrated with a jeweller’s precision, giving each piece the density of an artifact and the tension of a performance caught mid‑ritual. His compositions guide the viewer’s eye with deliberate balance, while his advanced colour sensibility—oscillating between muted, bruised palettes and saturated, electric hues—deepens the emotional charge.

Sitting at the intersection of fine art, fashion, and conceptual portraiture, Macri’s portfolio offers a deep, contemporary exploration of identity, vulnerability, and metamorphosis. The work is unapologetically theatrical yet profoundly introspective, inviting viewers to confront their own shifting selves in the mirror of his invented figures. The courage to address contamination—of bodies, ecosystems, and cultural symbols—combined with technical sophistication and a persistent willingness to take risks, has made his practice both visually arresting and intellectually resonant.

Macri’s art has been recognized with numerous international distinctions, including the International Prize Leonardo Da Vinci, the Phoenix International Prize for the Arts, the International Prize Artist of the Year, The New Protagonists of Contemporary Art, the International Prize Poseidon, the International Prize Artist in the Art History, and, more recently, International Prize Caravaggio. Canadian author Kenneth Radu has written extensively about his work, most notably in the essay A Man of Many Hats: Macri’s Millinery Motif, which examines the recurring presence of headwear and disguise in his visual narratives.

His practice has been highlighted in a wide range of art publications and platforms, including Contemporary Celebrity Masters, Master Artists to Collect artbook series, and recently graced the cover of Art Seen magazine Summer Issue. Notably, his artwork Un, an early oil painting created in 1994, was selected for inclusion in the prestigious Atlante dell’Arte Contemporanea MoMA 2026 publication. As well as, the artwork Nevermore which was chosen for inclusion in the preceding volume of Atlante dell’Arte Contemporanea, under the patronage of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, situating his work within an international conversation on contemporary art history.

Over the years, Macri has presented his work in numerous institutions and exhibitions across the globe. His pieces have been shown in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Cyprus, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Iran, Italy, Japan, Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States, reflecting both the breadth of his reach and the universal resonance of his themes.

Ultimately, Adamo Macri’s practice can be understood as an ongoing anthology of visual tales—each artwork a carefully constructed phenomenon in which the personal and the universal, the organic and the constructed, converge. His images linger in the mind as enigmatic relics from a world that feels at once distant and uncannily familiar.

Somatic Architecture

Macri has developed a concept and a term he named 'somatic structuralism' to characterize his architectural approach, wherein the human body and constructed spaces are viewed as interchangeable and interrelated entities, frequently reinterpreting styles such as Brutalism through an anatomical perspective.

Medium and Methodology

Adamo Macri’s practice is grounded in a deliberate methodological process and a concept he calls over‑processing. He treats artistic mediums as an interconnected organic system, where each stage feeds the next. The work typically begins in the most modest way: with handwritten notes. Ideas are first captured as text—keywords, fragments, and detailed observations—which function as the conceptual blueprint for everything that follows.

From there, the process moves methodically through a sequence of mediums. Drawings develop the initial notes into visual form; a colour palette is then defined to establish the work’s emotional and atmospheric register. Next, sculptural objects and accoutrements are created and painted, building a physical vocabulary of forms and textures. Only once these elements are resolved and assembled does the photographic phase begin. The photo session generates multiple images, but the true “raw material” is the single, carefully selected photograph that will carry the work forward.

Even at this stage, the image is far from finished. Post‑production becomes another crucial layer of making: cleaning, retouching, subtracting or adding elements, and—above all—intensive colour correction. The camera is treated as having its own eye and bias; its output must be re‑aligned with the artist’s intention. In this sense, the digital workflow parallels the labour of painters, both modern and historical, who have always grappled with over‑painting, glazing, and other cumulative techniques to achieve a precise rendering and tonal harmony. Photoshop becomes the contemporary analogue to those traditional tools—a different instrument in service of the same function and intention.

For Macri, a work is not complete until every tint, shade, and detail is calibrated so that the image functions as a unified whole. There is no such thing as “too much” processing if it is in service of that coherence. Over‑processing is not excess; it is integral to the method. Understanding this layered procedure is essential to correctly reading and evaluating the final image. What the viewer encounters is not simply a photograph, but the culmination of almost every available medium—writing, drawing, sculpture, painting, photography, and digital editing—compressed into a single surface.

This dense accumulation of stages drives the work toward a deliberate state of artificiality. Macri’s aim is to construct a self‑fabricated artifice, where artifice itself becomes metaphor: to materialize artifice is, in his view, to reveal something about the nature and meaning of art.

Awards and prizes

🔗 2026 International Prize Caravaggio - Palacio de Santoña, Madrid Spain

🔗 2026 International Prize Artist in the Art History - Palazzo Borghese, Florence Italy

🔗 2025 International Prize Poseidon - Scuola Grande di San Teodoro, Venice Italy

🔗 2025 International Prize: Artists on the French Riviera - Musée National du Sport, Nice France

🔗 2025 The New Protagonists of Contemporary Art 2025 - Saint Paul de Vence, France

🔗 2025 International Prize Artist of the Year 2025 - Palazzo Pucci, Florence Italy

🔗 2024 Phoenix International Prize for The Arts - Scuola Grande di San Teodoro, Venice Italy

🔗 2024 The International Prize Leonardo Da Vinci - The National Museum of Science and Technology Leonardo Da Vinci. Milan Italy - Artistic Merit

🔗 2014 Biennial Roadshow Marfa, Texas USA - Photography Prize

Exhibitions

Solo
🔗 2017 Identity Matrix - Galerie ERGA, Montreal Canada

Biennial

🔗 2023 BIENAL MADATAC #12 MADATAC, Madrid Spain

Art Fair

🔗 2023 ARCO Madrid International Contemporary Art Fair

🔗 2010 Beijing Contemporary Art Fair

Group

2026

🔗 The Biennial Project Venice 2026 - Giardini Entrance Venice Biennale

2025

🔗 Christmas 2025 Peace Letters to Ukraine - Alphabet Art Centre, N<MONA

2024

🔗 Art&Photography - Ethereal Glade, Art Web Gallery, 12th Edition

🔗 Peace Letters to Ukraine 2 - Alphabet Art Centre, N<MONA

2023

🔗 Art for Freedom 2023 - MADATAC BIENAL 12 Sala Berlanga, Madrid Spain

🔗 Art for Freedom 2023 - ARCO Madrid International Contemporary Art Fair, Spain

2022
🔗 Peace Letters to Ukraine 11 - Alphabet Art Centre

🔗 Peace Letters to Ukraine 2 - N<MONA New Museum of Networked Art

2019
🔗 Radical - Hyperflexion Contemporary Art, Port Elizabeth SA

2018
🔗 ArtBox Gallery Zürich - Zug Switzerland
🔗 Boston Biennial 5 - Atlantic Works Gallery, Boston USA
🔗 Artbox Projects New York 1.0 - Stricoff Fine Art, New York USA

2017
🔗 Snap To Grid - Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Los Angeles USA
🔗 Unnatural Election New Jersey - Puffin Cultural Forum, New Jersey USA
🔗 Unnatural Election Alaska - Out North Contemporary, Anchorage AK
🔗 The Artbox Projects Basel 1.0 - Eventplattform Luminator, Basel Switzerland
🔗 ArtVenice Biennale IV - ARTIsm3160, Venice Italy
🔗 Unnatural Election NYU - Kimmel Galleries, New York USA

2016
🔗 Snap To Grid - Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Los Angeles USA
🔗 The Artbox Projects Miami 1.0 - Spectrum Miami, Florida USA
🔗 Bark Biennial 1 Artists for Farm Animals - Atlantic Works Gallery, Boston USA
🔗 Boston Biennial 4 - Atlantic Works Gallery, Boston USA
🔗 Electro Caravan - NOON Nakazaki Depot, Osaka Japan

2015

🔗 The Selfie Show: An Art Exhibition of Self-Portraits - MONA Museum of New Art, Detroit Michigan USA
🔗 ArtVenice Biennale 3 - Via Garibaldi Castello, Venice Italy

2014

🔗 Sguardi Sonori Stars - Mole Vanvitelliana, Ancona Italy

🔗 Art for Freedom - Saakashvili Presidential Library, Tbilisi Georgia

🔗 Sguardi Sonori Stars - Museo Pietro Canonica Villa Borghese, Rome Italy

🔗 Boston Biennial 3 - Atlantic Works Gallery, Boston USA

🔗 100 Artists 100 Tiles - Frankenberg Castle, Aachen Germany

🔗 100 Artists 100 Tiles - Theater Aachen, Aachen Germany

🔗 Biennial Roadshow Marfa - El Cosmico Marfa, Texas USA

2013

🔗 Untitled Male ID - Angus-Hughes Gallery, London United Kingdom

🔗 1.000.050 Geburtstag der Kunst - Altes Kurhaus Kurhausstr, Aachen Germany

🔗 Art's Birthday 2013 - Museum FLUXUS+, Berlin Germany

2012

🔗 Time Is Love.5 - Galerie Octobre, Paris France

🔗 Time Is Love.5 - The Cornaro Institute, Larnaca Cyprus

🔗 Time Is Love.5 - Rich Mix - London United Kingdom

🔗 Time Is Love.5 - The Expressive Arts Institute, San Diego USA

🔗 Time Is Love.5 - SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin Germany

🔗 Time Is Love.5 - [.Box] Videoart Project Space, Milan Italy

2011

🔗 The Bioscope - Johannesburg South Africa

🔗 Letters From the Sky - ArtSPACE Gallery, Durban South Africa

🔗 Labia Cinema on Orange, Cape Town South Africa

🔗 Time Is Love.4 - Bildetage, Vienna Austria

🔗 Time Is Love.4 - Espace ApART Xiao Zhou Cun, Guangzhou China

🔗 Fragments - Arnot Art Museum, New York USA

🔗 Time Is Love.4 - Sint Lukas Gallery, LUCA School of Arts, Brussels Belgium

🔗 Time Is Love.4 - Hexagon Space, Baltimore Maryland USA

🔗 Time Is Love.4 - CACT Centro d'Arte Contemporanea Ticino, Bellinzona Switzerland

2010

🔗 Song of Flesh and Blood - Garage Gallery, San Diego California

🔗 Human Emotion Project - Sazmanab Project, Tehran Iran

🔗 Human Emotion Project - Mohsen Art Gallery, Tehran Iran

🔗 Human Emotion Project - Galerie Younique, Paris France

🔗 Human Emotion Project - Laaksola Culture Center, Toijala Finland

🔗 Faces, HEP - Gonçalves Sapinho Cultural Center, Benedita Alcobaça Portugal

🔗 HEP - Parakino, Laznia Centre for Contemporary Art, Gdańsk Poland

🔗 Beijing Contemporary Art Fair - China Agricultural Exhibition Center, Beijing China

🔗 Human Emotion Project - IVAZION, Geneva Switzerland

🔗 Human Emotion Project - Beijing Contemporary Art Centre AFA, Beijing China

2009

🔗 Video Dia Loghi - Velan Center for Contemporary Art, Turin Italy

🔗 HEP - AFA Portuguese Bookshop Gallery, Livraria Portuguesa, Macau China

🔗 Sguardi Sonori Festival - Festival of Media and Time Based Art, Benevento Italy

🔗 Human Emotion Project - Museu José Malhoa, Caldas da Rainha Portugal

🔗 Optica Festival Madrid - Espacio Espora Embajadores, Madrid Spain

🔗 Sguardi Sonori Festival - Festival of Media and Time Based Art, Rome Italy

🔗 Optica Festival Paris - Collège d'Espagne, Paris France

🔗 Optica Festival Cordoba - Festival Internacional de Videoarte, Córdoba Spain

🔗 Human Emotion Project - Museu de Cerâmica, Caldas da Rainha Portugal

🔗 Proyecto de Emoción Humana - LaSALA Exposiciones Galera, Valladolid Spain

🔗 Human Emotion Project (April) - Brancaleone, Rome Italy

🔗 Human Emotion Project (March) - Brancaleone, Rome Italy

🔗 Human Emotion Project - Guildford Lane Gallery, Melbourne Victoria Australia

2007

🔗 Slide and One Onion Canon - Online exhibition

🔗 DVblog Random Arts and Entertainment - Online

Links

🔗 Article / Catalog

🔗 Linktree

2 from Adamo Macri - DVblog Random Arts and Entertainment

2 from Adamo Macri
Published April 1, 2007
DVblog Random Arts and Entertainment