"I am neither an Artist nor a Master. I'm just a mix between a mule and a donkey. My eyes are my favorite app"
Gianluca Sodaro was born in Sicily on Christmas Eve.
He graduated from Milan’s NABA Academy of Fine Arts and Design, where he studied with leading figures of Italian contemporary art and criticism, including Vittorio Fagone, Gianni Colombo and Emilio Isgrò. His early photographic practice was mentored by photographers Umberto Agnello and Enzo Nocera.
In 1995, Sodaro took part in the collective exhibition 90s Art in Milan at the Braidense National Library, alongside artists including Emilio Isgrò, Bruno Munari, Emilio Tadini, Maurizio Cattelan and Studio Azzurro. In the same year, director Roberta Torre invited him to co-write Tano da morire (To Die for Tano), which later won three David di Donatello Awards and three awards at the Venice Film Festival.
Sodaro subsequently established himself as a filmmaker with the award-winning short films Una voce! Il mio diletto! and I Paladini della Santa Provvidenza (starring the actors Paolo Rossi and Gigio Alberti), the latter screened at major international festivals including Uppsala, Tampere, Palm Springs, Annecy, Locarno and Berlin.
From 2003, he worked with Fox International Channels as a director, promo writer and copywriter, winning three Gold Awards and two Silver Awards, as well as receiving two nominations, at the Promax BDA World and Europe Awards. In 2005, his work was further recognized with the Global Excellence Award, presented to him by Rupert Murdoch and Herman Mogollon.
His first feature film, Cuore Scatenato (Raging Heart), was recognized as a Film of Cultural Interest by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and premiered in the United States at the Miami International Film Festival.
His work in cinema has led to collaborations with some of the world’s most celebrated film composers. Angelo Badalamenti, renowned for his work with David Lynch, composed the original score for God’s Got His Head in the Clouds. Describing Sodaro’s film as “a marvelous vignette of a film” and “wonderfully thought-provoking, comical, and slightly absurd,” Badalamenti recalled: “I must've watched it five times before I finally took a seat at the piano. Bravo!”
Badalamenti later collaborated with Sodaro again, composing the original score for Nowhen (2018), starring Robert Davi. Academy Award-winning composer Rachel Portman subsequently composed the original score for See the Silence.
Alongside cinema, Sodaro has developed an extensive practice as a photographer and visual artist. His first solo photography exhibition, Ageless – Dolls Have Time to Waste, opened at the Meno Niša Contemporary Art Gallery in Vilnius in 2016 and was subsequently presented at the Radbury in Luxembourg and Gloria Delson Contemporary Arts in Downtown Los Angeles.
His photographic work has since been exhibited internationally, with Sante ma donne (Holy Women) presented in Castelbuono, Sicily, and at FotoFever in Paris in 2019, followed by exhibitions at GAM – Contemporary Art Gallery in Catania in 2021 and MIA Photo Fair – Photo Independent in Milan in 2022. In 2024, his photographic project PRAYGIRLwas presented at the Klaipėdos Dramos Teatras in Klaipėda, Lithuania.
In 2026, Sodaro was selected for an artist residency at Užupis Art Incubator (UMI) in Vilnius, further developing his photographic research in Lithuania.
His work moves between cinema, photography and visual art, exploring human identity, memory, time and the often elusive boundary between reality and imagination.
Gianluca adores the sound of cicadas.
If you're curious, you can also read his interview for the British Art and Culture magazine Aesthetica Magazine at www.aestheticamagazine.com/interview-multi-disciplinary-artist-gianluca-sodaro
Gianluca Sodaro and Angelo Badalamenti at the Berkshire International Film Festival
(U.S.A. - May, 2013)
you may also like
