El Nigro is an Italian artist and tattoo artist based in Naples, Italy. He has worked since 1999 as an illustrator, painter and fine artist, exhibiting nationally and internationally in solo and group shows, under a different nickname. Later, in 2011, he approached the tattoo scene becoming, in a quite short time, very recognizable due his high-contrast Black and White work. The melancholic temperament is the fulcrum of his work, that lurks behind an imaginary that draws and blends his various interests such as literature, music, poetry, Victorian aesthetics and folklore, investigating the emotional frailties of our times. 

 “You like to give captions to your images, what pleasure do you take in creating stories in your images? Maybe it’s because of my background, basically a life dedicated to Contemporary Art. As for drawing, it’s a need. I always try to give titles and build up little stories around certain series or characters. I would feel the work incomplete without. Although this need, usually I prefer to give just a hint of the story, leaving the reading key open to the observer. Suggestions, not explainations. If you explain an artwork it dies, it doesn’t have a reason to exist anymore.“ 

(from an interview by Pascal Bagot - Inkers Magazine)

 “Trying to understand who El Nigro is, the artist, looking at his works is like expecting to know a house by spying through the lock, seeing only a glimpse of it; because his drawings, although full of an intense, explicit and at times almost violent symbolism, are at the same time hermetic, described in a time that no longer exists except in the romantic and dark circle of his poetic.“

(Luca Cospito - from The Melancholic Temperament book's preface)

 

Selected Exhibitions:

2023  MALACARNE / curated by Reverse Art / Museum of Anthropology / Napoli
2022  FIENDS OF THE DARK III / WOWxWOW Gallery / Scotland (UK)
2021  ART&MORE by Glo / curated by Question Mark / Lungomare di Napoli
2014  MINIATURE INK / Atomica Gallery and Things&Ink Magazine / London
2014  AGAIN! / AKA London / London
2013  GROUP SHOW / AKA London / London
2010  LUMEN / Complesso Monumentale di Santa Sofia / Salerno
2009 AIRSWAP / Not Gallery / curated by Mara De Falco / Napoli
2008 CONTAINER / curated by M. De Falco and Not Gallery / Napoli
2007 AFTER URBAN / University of Pennsylvania, PA / USA
2007 CRUEL AND ALLPOWERFUL KING / BAD Museum / Napoli
2006 BIENNALE ADRIATICA ARTI NUOVE / San Benedetto del Tronto (AP)
2005 HYPE / Assab One - Hype Gallery / Milano
2005 ARCHEO DOC FEST / Villa Campolieto / Ercolano (NA)
2005 100 ARTISTS FOR A MUSEUM / CAM Museum / Napoli
2005 DIPTYCHS / Spazio Arte Gallery / Napoli
2003 SELECTED ARTISTS / Premio Arte Mondadori / Museo della Permanente / Milano

 

Interviews:

IL TATUAGGIO MAGAZINE N#15 (Ita) Download 

https://www.iltatuaggiomag.it/rivista/

INKERS APP (Eng) Download

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dimitrihk.atc.bookstore&hl=en_US&gl=US

TATTOO LIFE MAGAZINE (Ita)

https://italia.tattoolife.com/el-nigro-umor-nero-come-linchiostro/

 

Articles:

WAITFASHION

https://www.waitfashion.com/en/3-tattoo-artists-to-follow-on-ig-antikorpo-el-nigro-lino-ozon/

SCENE 360 MAGAZINE

https://scene360.com/art/112416/el-nigro/