Jacopo Scassellati paintings explore the intersection of classical mythology and contemporary figurative art. Born in 1989 in Sassari, Italy, Scassellati is a painter and sculptor whose work meditates on memory, light, and transcendence. Rooted in the human form yet suspended in a realm of timeless symbols, his art embodies both the sacred and the sensual, the ancient and the modern.
Working between painting and glazed terracotta sculpture, Scassellati revives ancient materials and archetypal imagery to reveal the fragile balance between matter and spirit. His canvases, often rendered in restrained tones of black, white, and ochre, recall the chiaroscuro of Caravaggio filtered through a metaphysical sensibility. Figures emerge from darkness like fragments of collective memory - at once mythic and profoundly human.
His sculptural practice, forged in the family's traditional ceramic workshop in Sardinia, translates this same dialogue into three-dimensional form. Through clay, fire, and glaze, he gives tangible body to the psychological landscapes that inhabit his paintings: Daphne's metamorphosis, Narcissus's reflection, Hypatia's martyrdom, and the ghosts of forgotten Rome.
Scassellati's first major exhibition, Frammenti dell'Essere, debuted in 2014 at Besharat Gallery Barbizon, marking the beginning of a long-term collaboration. The following year, the same collection was presented in Atlanta under the title Fragments of Being, introducing his work to the American public.
Since then, his practice has evolved toward a contemplative materiality, uniting the austerity of classical form with the emotional immediacy of contemporary expression.
Jacopo Scassellati is represented by Besharat Gallery in Barbizon and Atlanta. His paintings and sculptures are held in private collections across Europe and the United States.