The agency is delighted to represent a very unique artist, Matteo Ballocchi, for whom nomadism has been a second nature since his birth in Istanbul in 1998. After having to leave Turkey following an earthquake, he and his family settled in Olnay-sous-Bois, France, and then went on to live in Algiers, Shanghai, Berlin, Angola, and Tunisia, following in the footsteps of his father, a sports teacher. These wanderings awakened his curiosity for science, graffiti, skateboarding, urban arts, music, and shaped his entire being.
Confronted with different customs, cultures, social inequalities, and economic challenges, he acknowledged the realities and now presents himself as a "counter-culture, rebellious" artist, for whom the word "differences" holds meaning.
Upon returning to France, Matteo Ballocchi trained in a carpentry workshop in Nîmes, where he discovered the world of work and developed an aversion to the conventional system. He then learned the craft of maritime carpentry in Marseille, near Port-de-Bouc, where his grandmother resides. The concept of sketching to the finished object fascinated him: he decided to become a glassblower! He headed to Antibes and then Paris, where he trained with glass artisans, met a patron, designed accessories, and planned to open his own specialized boutique. The time came for the artist to return to the south, to Marseille, where he settled on Levat Street in the 3rd arrondissement of the city.
From there, it was only a small step for him to embrace rap, a symbol of Marseille, as urban culture "fits" the identity of his pieces and his free spirit that "goes against the grain and off the beaten path."
With immense curiosity, the visual artist continues to explore jewelry making, sculpting materials such as wood, resin, precious metals, and glass, and practices multiple disciplines that he combines without limits. His inspiration? The swirling smoke, ethereal and volatile.
His reference? The graffiti artist Jepsy. His city? Berlin, for "the essence of graffiti."