Andrea Ballestra

I am an Italian artist born in Milan, where my artistic journey began before moving to the Netherlands at nineteen to study Fine Art at Artez Academy in Enschede.

After graduating, I relocated to Spain and worked alongside internationally renowned artists such as Manolo Valdés, Cristina Iglesias, and Giacinto Bosco—contributing by hand to ambitious projects valued in the millions. (Scroll below to see selected works.)

Over the past six years, my practice has evolved through an ongoing exploration of materials and techniques. My work spans painting, sculpture, bacterial growth, electricity, printmaking, video, and photography, merging experimentation with intention. What drives me is a deep curiosity: a desire to transform ideas into tangible matter and give form to thoughts, instincts, and memory.

My artworks are created with longevity in mind—developed to withstand time, to exist beyond the moment of creation, and to carry forward the experiences and questions that shaped them.

Today, I divide my time between developing personal bodies of work and collaborating internationally — including the creation of an aluminium cupola designed by Cristina Iglesias.

I collaborate with architects, interior designers, and private collectors who connect with my vision and seek bespoke works that elevate their space while preserving artistic authenticity.
Whether through existing pieces or commissioned creations, my goal is to bring meaningful, timeless art into environments where it can be lived with, contemplated, and experienced.

For inquiries or commissions, you can contact me at:

artskyline@outlook.it

​Artist Statement

The Present is only temporary and soon becomes part of the Past, everything we see and live is the result of actions layered over time, shaped by what came before us.

In my work I look for the truest essence of life, when something has already been worn down by the struggles of existence; when its function has already faded and only their essence remains.

Just as our bodies are only temporary, we will exist mostly through Memory.

An object may be new for only a few years, but it will spend the majority of its existence abandoned, altered and decaying. Like the skeletons of our ancestors, Like the ruins we inherited from ancient Empires,

Like the artifacts of everyday objects from a time we have not lived through.

The Present is a temporary lie,the past is a constant truth;

I project the viewer into the future, years from now when we have all crumbled to dust, and invite them to look back at this present moment. By encapsulating this time shift within my own work, I aim to reveal the truest aesthetic of the object or vision that I am creating, not how it appears now, but how it will exist for the most of its existence.

As an artist I try to express emotions within myself that I don’t see reflected in the outer reality.

Therefore I use drawings or photographs as a starting point to show the information of the work (the subject or the environment), and I use the material to bring the work to a higher spiritual realm.

The work becomes a joined result between interior and external realities;

Reality is not enough.

By not imposing a rigid aesthetic or perspective, granting the chosen material a certain freedom to express itself, the artwork is the result of a well-balanced combined effort, of my idea and the possibility of the tangible world.

Moreover, as I aim to invite viewers to create their unique connections with my artwork, I deliberately incorporate a level of abstraction and ambiguity. Similar to encountering an ancient artifact, the artworks intentionally trascend an element of mystery, prompting observers to ponder and speculate about the true essence of the object in front of them. By fostering this sense of curiosity, I encourage personal interpretation, allowing each viewer to day-dream their own narrative around my artwork.

​Artistic Carreer

I had the privilege of working alongside top-tier artists such as Manolo Valdés, Cristina Iglesias, and Giacinto Bosco.

During this period, my role went beyond technical execution — I brought my creativity, precision, and sculptural sensibility into the process of crafting large-scale works, some valued in the millions.

The photographs here show a selection of fourteen wax sculptures I modelled by hand for a monumental project by Cristina Iglesias. These pieces became the structural and aesthetic foundation of a labyrinth — later cast in bronze, welded, and assembled into a 20-meter installation.

To witness material evolve from wax to patinaed bronze — from concept to architectural presence — was an experience that reshaped my understanding of scale, process, and artistic permanence.

January – June, 2025.

I worked on several projects for Manolo Valdés, helping create some of his well-known Meninas in epoxy.
It wasn’t just fabrication — it was hands-on learning: testing materials, solving small problems along the way, and understanding why every millimeter matters in a sculpture of that scale.

There’s a kind of knowledge you only learn by doing — how long a layer needs to dry before the next one, how to get a surface perfectly smooth, or when to stop touching something before you ruin it.
Working on those pieces gave me that kind of experience.

Being part of the making of a sculpture so many people recognize and admire was something special — definitely one of the most meaningful and inspiring moments in my professional path so far.

August – December, 2024.

For infos about prices, exhibitions, commissions or prints

feel free to contact me

You can see more of my work here