About

MARCO VENTURA was born in Milan, Italy in 1963 and comes from a family of artists. He studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti of Brera in Milan and later on at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He works as a freelance illustrator for publishers and magazines, graphic design and advertising companies worldwide. He received several awards, including two silver medals from the American Society of Illustrators. Feature articles on his work have been published on Novum, 3×3 and Communication Arts. He has designed postage stamps for the British Royal Mail, the Vatican State and the Republic of San Marino. His works are part of private collections and of the Musei Vaticani and two of his paintings were recently exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in London for the BP AWARD 2015 and 2017. Ventura lives in Milan with his wife Laura Francesca Filippucci (also an illustrator) and their three children, and teaches illustration at the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED).

• 2 Silver Medals American Society of Illustrators ILLUSTRATORS 30 (1988) and ILLUSTRATORS 36 (1994), Silver Cone Prize Italian Art Directors Club (1995), Merit Award Society of Publication Designers (2005) and Premio Internazionale d’Arte Filatelica Religiosa “San Gabriele”(2013).

• Work also selected by: Print’s Regional Design and Print’s European Design Annuals, Communication Arts Design and Illustration Annuals, Illustrators, Images (British Association of Illustrators), Graphis, Creativity, American Illustration, The Art Directors Club Annual and Lurzer’s 200 Best Illustrators Worldwide 2007.

• VATICAN CITY 2010-2018 STAMP DESIGN by MARCO VENTURA, BalPEX – BALTIMORE 2018; Palazzo Comunale – ASIAGO 2019.
• FACE TO FACE 2017, CassArt Gallery – LONDON 2017.
• BP PORTRAIT AWARD 2017, National Portrait Gallery – LONDON 2017. Exeter City Art Gallery – EXETER (UK) 2017. Scottish National Portrait Gallery – EDINBURGH 2018 and Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens – SUNDERLAND (UK) 2018.
• PORTRAIT 16, DegreeART Gallery – LONDON 2016.
• BP PORTRAIT AWARD 2015, National Portrait Gallery – LONDON 2015, Scottish National Portrait Gallery – EDINBURGH 2015 and Ulster Museum – BELFAST 2016.
• ROYAL SOCIETY of PORTRAIT PAINTERS – Annual Exhibition 2015, Mall Galleries, LONDON 2015.
• E2’s FOR THE LOVE OF ART, Galleria Bongiovanni – BOLOGNA (Italy) 2013.
• ROLLING STONE – The Art of THE RECORD REVIEW, Museum of American Illustration – NEW YORK 2011.
• INGRES ET LES MODERNES, Québec National Fine Arts Museum – QUEBEC and Ingres Museum – MONTAUBAN (France) 2009.
• NEW ARRIVALS New Voices in Illustration, The Coningsby Gallery – LONDON 2006.
• DIE KUNST DES SPIEGEL, HAMBURG, BERLIN, FRANKFURT am MAIN, DUSSELDORF, BONN, MUNICH, STUTTGART, WADGASSEN (Germany) – VIENNA (Austria), BASEL (Switzerland), NEW YORK, KALININGRAD (Russia) and SHANGHAI (China) 2005 – 2007.
• THE ART OF THE NEW YORK TIMES, Museum of American Illustration – NEW YORK 2004.
• FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG MAGAZIN Illustratoren, Galerie an der Munsterbauhutte – FREIBURG (Germany) 1997.
• OUR OWN SHOW Society of Illustrators, Museum of American Illustration – NEW YORK 1996.
• ILLUSTRATORS 29,30,32,33,34,36,37,38,39,40,41,43,44,48,50; Museum of American Illustration – NEWYORK 1987-2008.
• MARCO VENTURA “Illustrazioni Americane”, Galleria dell’Istituto Europeo di Design – MILAN (Italy) 1995.