Valerio Berruti, the artist who recounts childhood

Have you ever looked at a work of art and felt that only your gaze was missing to complete it?

This is what happens when you stand in front of the creations of Valerio Berruti, an artist born in Alba in 1977, who is capable of transforming childhood into a suspended, poetic and universal dimension.

His works, which range from frescoes to sculptures and video animations, take us back to a time when everything is yet to happen. A time without cynicism, made up of expectations, dreams and light melancholy.

In this post, I will tell you who Valerio Berruti is, what his poetics are, his techniques and why his minimalist and touching style has become internationally recognisable. You will discover why he is one of the most beloved contemporary Italian artists abroad, capable of combining ancient art, digital languages and inner landscapes with surprising consistency.

Valerio Berruti: the artist of childhood who speaks to the heart

In Valerio Berruti’s work, childhood is never decorative or nostalgic, but a mental place where time stands still and emotions become essential. His characters are stylised children, barely sketched figures, still yet vibrant bodies that seem to have just stepped out of a dream.

His works have a quiet grace, a strong fragility that never screams but remains impressed.

Each work seems to ask the viewer to complete it with their own experience, to find a space for themselves in that narrative void. This is where Berruti’s poetics become powerful: for him, childhood is the time when everything is still possible, and we adults are its guardians and witnesses.

Berruti’s ancient technique for contemporary art

Berruti has chosen to work with fresco, one of the oldest painting techniques in the history of art, applying it to contemporary subjects with a minimalist aesthetic. He adds sculpture and video animation to this practice, creating a unique, recognisable and deeply poetic visual language.

In 2009, he participated in the 53rd Venice Biennale with a video composed of 600 fresco drawings, accompanied by music by Paolo Conte. It was a turning point: the mark came to life, the image took shape, memory found form in movement.

Valerio Berruti’s career is marked by a strong ethical dimension.

In 2011, after the earthquake that devastated Japan, he created Kizuna, a video exhibited at the Pola Museum in Tokyo with a soundtrack written by Ryuichi Sakamoto. The work became a charity project for post-earthquake reconstruction.

In 2012, he won the international Luci d’Artista award in Turin and created a large land art work in South Africa at the Nirox Foundation. Since then, his art has been exhibited in museums and public spaces around the world, arriving in Beijing in 2024 with his solo exhibition Circulating Sketch at the prestigious Teagan Space.

Valerio Berruti and his dialogue with music

One of Berruti’s most intense projects is “La giostra di Nina” (Nina’s Carousel), an animated short film co-produced by Sky Arte with a soundtrack by Ludovico Einaudi. The work recounts childhood with poignant delicacy and has travelled to iconic art venues such as the MAXXI in Rome and the Reggia di Venaria, passing through the Church of San Domenico in Alba.

Collaboration with great musicians is a constant feature of Berruti’s work: his visual art finds an echo in the compositions of artists who, like him, know how to touch intimate chords with discretion and depth.

Berruti, an artist rooted in his territory but projected into the world

The landscape of the Langhe, the artist’s native land, has recently entered his work with a new awareness. Berruti portrays it with his usual lightness, suggesting rather than describing, and leaving the viewer space to complete the vision.

In 2022, he created Alba, a monumental steel sculpture over 12 metres high, donated to the city by the Ferrero family and now located in Piazza Michele Ferrero, symbolising a deep bond between art, community and memory.

An artist who never stops searching

Valerio Berruti is an artist who never stops at the surface, who continues to search in the simplicity of the sign and in the depth of silence.

His art is an invitation to slowness, contemplation and memory. It does not shout, but remains. It does not explain, but evokes.

If you are fascinated by artists who mix poetry, technique and vision, I recommend reading my in-depth article on Arianna Fioratti Loreto, the artist who takes us into a parallel universe where imagination mixes with science and mythology.