Riccardo Malleo is an Italian artist who creates audiovisual projects characterized by surreal and psychedelic atmospheres, combining music composition with various animation practices and technologies, such as 3D, generative systems, AI, frame-by-frame animation, glitch art, editing and VFX compositing.

He has always been profoundly fascinated by the themes of self-discovery, alternation of dreams and reality, memories and the altered states of perceptions.

Education
He discovered his interest in editing and video art while attending the local middle school in his hometown and was encouraged by his teachers to further develop those skills. Afterwards he moved to Perugia, attended the public art high school and concurrently pursued piano studies at the Conservatory of Music “F. Morlacchi”. During this time he produced some documentaries for the school, including the video of the internship at Brajo Fuso's Art House, winner of the competition "Storie d'alternanza" organized by Umbria’s Regional Chamber of Commerce. He won a scholarship by the "S. Anna" foundation in Perugia and then obtained the school diploma in 2018.

He is now currently studying VFX at the “Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia”, the national academy of cinema in Rome, where he works both as an on-set supervisor and as a post-production artist for several short films produced by the institute*.
Work and collaborators
In 2016 he had a notable experience when "Salt & Pepper" studio offered him a position as a "runner" on the film set of a commercial**. The client was the furniture company named “Moretti Compact”.
He later on produced and directed his personal experimental short films "Remembrance” and “Embodying the water //Wind that moves us” and collaborated with artist Michele Marinaccio for the short film "Piume (feathers)", inspired by the performance "Piume - archivio visionario" at the “MACRO” museum in Rome.
Additionally, he directed the music video “Dissolve, appear” for the track “Interplay” by Stefano Di Cicco as well as an animated promo and another music video commissioned by the American rapper Alex Black.

In 2023 his short “Presente dilatato” won the XII edition of the contest “Bookciak, Azione” and was presented in Venice as a collateral event of the Film Festival.

He is genuinely interested in open collaborations and has worked with both Italian and international visual artists such as Karan Darji, Fabien Gaborieau, Pascal Ignatius Hector, Kyle Meredith, Matthew Shelton, Drake Smith, Stefano Camera and Danilo Xhema.
Screenings, NFTs and events
One of his works was selected by “Neophlye.art” (formerly “NFT Art Fund”) to be shown at the "Culture Lab" gallery in New York for the "Metamenagerie" NFTs exhibition, produced by “Ars Electronica” and “Vizmesh”.
In 2021 he was chosen to be featured on numerous urban screens in Shibuya, Tokyo, for the "30s Museum" exhibition by “Neo-Shibuya" and “New Media Art” platforms.
A year later, another one of his artworks was selected for the “15”s Museum and displayed on nine LED walls in the same neighborhood.

In 2023 his work “Resonance” was included in the “Season Two Starter Pack” series of NFTs by Superchief Gallery, minted on Avalanche. It has been exhibited in Milan, Amsterdam, Istanbul, Rio de Janeiro and at the “Scope Art Fair” in Miami.

Furthermore, “Heartbeat” was presented on a billboard in Times Square through Artcrush Gallery, and he is currently participating in “NFT.NYC 2024” with his collection of three NFTs, created in collaboration with the artist Danilo Xhema and inspired by Carlos Castaneda’s books.

*CSC productions: “Fuori piove”, “Fake Shot”, “La ricomparsa delle lucciole”, “Tanzania”, “Chaude”, “Emanuele - l’artista sociale”

** Moretti Compact commercial “Orsetti” 2017 by “Salt & Pepper” design studio