Artist and graphic designer

Paola Montanaro (Massafra, 1969) is an Italian artist working with paper collage. With a background in Biological Sciences and a career in advertising graphics, she developed a visual language based on recomposition and layering. Her work combines graphic clarity, pop imagery, and material reuse.

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My research

My work begins with cutting and reassembling. Fragments of newspapers and magazines—ephemeral by nature—become new visual signs. Paper, marked by time and information, loses its original meaning and turns into matter, color, and form.

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My collages draw on portraits and figures from the collective imagination—film, literature, comics. Recovered materials introduce an ecological dimension, turning discarded matter into new visual narratives. I look for a balance between structure and spontaneity, fragmentation and unity.