Piero Montezaro (b. 1997) is a French artist of Istrian heritage based in Paris.

My work begins with a search for what lies beneath the identities we inherit. We are given names, places, cultures and histories long before we begin to understand ourselves. Rather than accepting these as fixed definitions, I use painting to ask what remains once those layers begin to fall away.

Every work begins as a seed: an image, a dream or an intuition. Once it reaches the canvas, however, it develops through a dialogue between intention and chance. I guide the process, yet I never fully control it. As it unfolds, symbols surface on their own, revealing a language beyond words. The figures that emerge are often self-portraits or people I encounter who seem to inhabit a similar inner landscape. Figures, objects, colours and expressions become clues within a larger riddle whose meaning remains open. I think of painting as a way of photographing the unconscious.