Davide Fontana

Davide Fontana (b. 1995, Palermo, Italy) is a sculptor based between Bagheria and Grammichele, Sicily. He graduated with a Master's Diploma in Sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts of Palermo.

Working primarily in sculpture and drawing, Fontana explores the relationship between material, memory and human experience. His practice is rooted in an interest in the traces people leave behind—through gestures, objects, sounds and silences—transforming intangible experiences into physical forms.

His work has been exhibited in several group exhibitions across Italy, including A29 Palermo Gibellina (2017), Polizzi Generosa Arte Contemporanea (2021), FACE (2025), MAI DIRE MAI (2025), and SUPERSACCA (2025–26). In 2021, he was selected for the XV Edition of the Premio Nazionale delle Arti.

Through a poetic and tactile approach to sculpture, Fontana investigates the intersection of body, space and memory, creating works that invite contemplation on the fragility and persistence of human presence.

Selected Works

Work Available

Artist Statement

My artistic research stems from a desire to investigate the human condition through the traces we leave behind: gestures, sounds, silences and objects.At the centre of my practice is the concept of the “sonic act”—understood not merely as an acoustic phenomenon, but as a primal expression of human existence. It is a gesture that gives rhythm to time and shape to memory.

Sound therefore becomes matter, while matter, in turn, preserves sound like an invisible yet tangible echo.Through sculpture and drawing, I develop a visual language that translates vibration into volume and memory into physical presence. Musical instruments embedded within materials, elongated rhythmic forms, unstable structures and surfaces marked by the passage of time all evoke the fragility of existence, the weight of memory and the tension between the body and the forces that move through it.Within this dimension, the human figure is never directly represented; instead, it is suggested through its most essential gestures and deepest silences.

My works aspire to give form to a silent acoustics, where harmony becomes silence and sculpture transforms into an archive of a voiceless humanity, yet one charged with history.Matter becomes a witness, sound becomes a trace, and memory becomes form.

Education

Master's Diploma in Sculpture
Academy of Fine Arts of Palermo, Italy

Selected Exhibitions

2025–2026 SUPERSACCA, 4th Edition, Group Exhibition, curated by Giovanni Scucces
Sacca Gallery, Modica, Italy

2025 FACE, Group Exhibition for the Giornata del Contemporaneo KoArt Gallery, Catania, Italy

2025 MAI DIRE MAI, Group Exhibition, Art Saloon Gallery, Ariccia, Rome, Italy

2022 SUMA sono una mostra autoctona, Group Exhibition, Collectivo Flock, Barcelona Pozzo di Gotto, Italy

2021 Polizzi Generosa Arte Contemporanea – Giovani artisti dell'Accademia di Belle Arti in mostra, Group Exhibition, Curated by Doriana Bruccoleri, Polizzi Generosa, Italy

2017 A29 Palermo Gibellina, Group Exhibition of Sculpture and Painting, Fondazione Orestiadi & Academy of Fine Arts of Palermo Palermo, Italy

Awards & Selections

2021 Selected Artist, XV Edition of the Premio Nazionale delle Arti, Afam-Mur, Academy of Fine Arts Mario Sironi, Sassari, Italy