Gregorio Zanardi (Argentine, b. 2001) is a painter and illustrator whose figurative work blends unease and beauty, creating tension between aesthetic harmony and a subtle sense of discomfort. Working in both analog and digital formats, he treats painting as a space for freedom, play and personal exploration, letting instinct and conscious intention balance each other in the studio.
Zanardi grew up around art: his uncle, the Córdoba-based painter Matias Tejeda, gave him painting tools and art books from an early age and left a lasting impression with his recurring use of cigarettes as a visual motif. At 18 he began selling painted caps, t-shirts and small paintings, and after a year studying Systems Engineering he left university to work as an artist full-time, a decision his uncle had encouraged. He cites Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Basquiat and David Hockney as influences, drawn especially to Bacon's pasty, violent textures and to the cheerfulness of Hockney's color.
