Federico Clapis (Italian, b. 1987) is a contemporary artist based in Milan who works across sculpture, painting, installation and video, often in a hyperrealist, figurative style.,Technology recurs throughout his work as a metaphor for the contemporary, used to explore the human condition.
He made his first sculpture at ten, an accumulation of toys on a marble slab, and around age twenty began using art to explore hidden parts of himself.For years he worked “undercover” producing viral videos on social media that drew millions of followers and views, before moving away from pure entertainment in September 2015 to turn his online presence into a vehicle for sharing his art.,Earlier in his artistic development, he began a long inner journey exploring the human soul, living for a time in an ashram in India and continuing his research in the West. Since 2017 he has used Instagram to invite followers to share their own feelings and reflections in the comments on his posts, treating their responses as an extension of the work.
In June 2018 he created Crypto Connection, a three-metre bronze sculpture commissioned by the crypto wallet and exchange Eidoo, installed for ten days at Observation Point on London's Southbank.He began working in crypto art in February 2021, releasing his first NFTs that year.In January 2024 he released MetaSense as part of a wider digital drop that included companion pieces MetaSense YachtClub, MetaSense Park and MetaSense Birthday.
His work has been included in the “2121 Art Evolution” programme of A Journey from Renaissance to Crypto Art + AI at Milan's Dynamic Art Museum, alongside artists including Marco Mori, CB Hoyo, Anibale Siconolfi and Mario Klingemann.He has also shown at the Moco Museum in Barcelona and is one of fifty crypto artists profiled in Andrea Concas and Eleonora Brizi's book Crypto Art – Begins, alongside artists including Hackatao, Refik Anadol, Kevin Abosch and Osinachi.,He is represented by MTArt Agency.
