Michele Telari
Michele Telari was born in Viterbo, Italy, in 1979. He began painting at the age of eleven, demonstrating an early and strong inclination toward drawing. He graduated from the Liceo Artistico Tuscia in Viterbo in 1997 and, in 2005, earned a degree in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, with a thesis on American hyperrealism supervised by Professor Antonio D'Acchille.
This academic training informs all of his work. His painting is based on an in-depth study of numerous techniques — pencil, pastel, watercolor, acrylic, oil, and tempera — and every subject he reproduces is the result of extensive research and practice. From 2008 to 2016, he taught and ran his own art school.
Rain as a Signature
His pseudonym says it all: Rainman, the man of rain. The artist reproduces fragments of everyday life in the rain, both emotionally and visually — a motif born of several years of stylistic research that has brought his work international recognition. “I have always been fascinated by rain, autumn storms, their colors, and the enormous energy unleashed within them, just as I am fascinated by the everyday lives of people,” he explains. “A magical atmosphere that I seek to interpret in my own way, with rain serving as a link between me and this kind of reality.”
His canvases capture the city beneath the downpour: gleaming sidewalks, silhouettes beneath umbrellas, neon lights diffused in the water, and reflections that duplicate the architecture. Metropolitan life and soul are the subjects of his work — New York above all, but also Rome, Milan, and Naples.
A Technique Between Photography and Texture
Curator Francesca Barbi Marinetti highlights his meticulous pictorial reproduction of the photographic medium, an illusionism pushed to the extreme that inspires wonder. His works reflect a careful study of multiple techniques and styles, combining the luminosity of sharp definition with the expressiveness of more generous impasto applied with a palette knife. It is this tension between hyperrealistic precision and deliberately emphasized texture that gives his paintings their distinctive vibrancy.
Career and Recognition
In 2016, he set his personal auction record at Bertolami Fine Art. He later received a commission from the Chinese government for religious Tiffany stained-glass windows intended for Catholic churches, created in collaboration with master artist Marcello Carrer. From 2017 to 2019, he exhibited at One Art Space Gallery and then at NYA Gallery in New York, and took part in the prestigious ART Innsbruck.
In 2022, he designed and organized the “Rome vs New York” exhibition with Tina Vannini, presented in Rome at Margutta Veggy Food & Art, and took part in Expo Dubai 2022 with five large works dedicated to New York, as well as in an exhibition in Monte Carlo and a permanent exhibition in Gardone Riviera.
His paintings are now exhibited and sold around the world — from Australia to Canada, and especially in the United States.