​

Michele Toniatti was born in Bormio on 13 April 1969, in the province of Sondrio. Already at an early age he discovered a great passion for drawing and painting and delighted in small installations of objects and carved wood, deposited in the woods, which he moved from day to day. He experiments with art, understood as the liberation of his inner thoughts, a mirror of those pre-adolescent moments he experienced.

In fact, at just 11 years old he painted ''shoes 1981'' a work that caught the attention of teacher Ombretta Redondi: it was she who gave him his first easel, with brushes and oil colours. Source of this interest in art, visit museums, galleries and exhibitions of great painters of the past. His self-taught course of study is mainly focused on Picasso, Mirò, Boccioni, Velazquez, Veerner, Michelangelo and Caravaggio. Figures of fundamental importance for the stylistic development and career of the artist. The long process of technical experimentation leads to happy and original results: in the 2000s he experiments with new techniques, using clay and resin, with which he shapes a portrait production whose privileged subjects are the icons of the history of rock music. Experimentalism is combined with an equally varied stylistic repertoire, from figurative to abstract to informal. On the basis of what has just been stated, his production is divided into two strands, one concerning portraits and a second relating to geometries, colors and pure pigments. “With Toniatti the informal, the abstract and the conceptual of the twentieth century find a lyrical and rational communion together with modern elements such as resin, plastic and LED lighting. Toniatti's research overcomes feelings such as joy, pain, rapture, nostalgia, horror which are masterfully purified leading to a much deeper vision of the sensitive."

He participates in national and international competitions, receiving important prizes and recognitions. He has numerous exhibitions to his credit in major cities in Italy and abroad, receiving important recognition. He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Camera dei Deputati press room, Rome 2018. In 2020 he was awarded the Prix Grand Artiste in Cannes for the Congiunti project published by the GIUNTI publishing house. Lifetime Achievement Award conferred by the Maco Museum, Veroli.

It is part of the Sgarbi collection, graphics section.