PIERO CLEMENTE GARREFFA
Born 1982, Mildura, Australia
Lives and works Melbourne, Australia
Master of Fine Art, RMIT University, Melbourne, 2021
AWARDS & FINALIST
2018 — Paul Guest Arts Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery
2024 — Pro Hart Outback Art Prize, Broken Hill City Art Gallery
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 — It’s In My Blood, Mario’s, Melbourne
2022 — Poking a Stick at an Ant’s Nest, Mildura Arts Centre, Mildura
2021 — Look and See, Mario’s, Melbourne
2019 — Icons and Nostalgia, Mario’s, Melbourne
2018 — Untitled, Babe Space, Melbourne
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 — Dream On, Siger Gallery, London
2026 — Grammar Art Show, Toowoomba Gallery, Toowoomba
2026 — Portraits: Past to Present, Mildura Arts Centre, Mildura
2025 — AKIDA, Arthouse Selective, Melbourne
2025 — Rosetta, Jacky Winter Gallery, Melbourne
2025 — Small Works Art Prize, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
2024 — Centrepiece, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
2024 — Pro Hart Outback Art Prize, Broken Hill City Art Gallery, Broken Hill
2024 — No Vacancy Annual Art Show, No Vacancy, Melbourne
2024 — Gioia, with Melissa Grisanach, On the Corner Gallery, Melbourne
2023 — National Photographic Portrait Prize, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
2023 — Sun-Raysed, Workspace3496, Mildura
2021 — RMIT School of Art Graduate Show, Melbourne
2021 — RMIT Hall & Wilcox Acquisitive Art Prize, Melbourne
EARLIER EXHIBITIONS — SELECTED
2019 — Self Portrait 2019 A.D., 45 Downstairs, Melbourne
2019 — Trouble Makers II, Versus Gallery, Melbourne
2019 — Eat Sleep Paint Repeat, BSIDE Gallery, Melbourne
2019 — Breathru, Montsalvat, Melbourne
2018 — Paul Guest Arts Prize, Bendigo Art Gallery
2018 — 50x50 Small Works Art Prize, Brunswick Street Gallery, Melbourne
2018 — Inquisitive Palette Prize, Tacit Gallery, Melbourne
RESIDENCIES
2011 — Premiere Art Studios, Mildura
2009 — Yard Studios, Hackney Wick, London
2008 — Studio 70 Rosso, Florence, Italy
COLLECTIONS
Victorian State Parliament House Collection
Mildura Arts Centre Collection (Elliott Collection)
Stefano Di Pieri Collection
Private collections across Australia, Italy, France, United Kingdom, United States, Germany and Spain
PUBLICATIONS & MEDIA
Middleton, C., “Ones to Watch,” Art/Edit Magazine, Issue 30, 2021
National Portrait Gallery, National Photographic Portrait Prize, 2023
The Design Files, 2023
SBS Italian, It’s in My Blood: L’identità Calabrese di Piero Garreffa
PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
Piero Clemente Garreffa is a Melbourne-based painter whose practice explores identity, memory and cultural inheritance through figurative and narrative-driven works. Drawing on his Calabrian heritage and personal history, his practice functions as a personal anthropology, examining psychological and symbolic relationships between place, memory and identity.
His work has been recognised through national prizes and institutional exhibitions, and is held in public and private collections in Australia and internationally. His practice balances personal narrative with broader cultural themes, contributing to contemporary conversations around identity, memory and representation in Australian painting.
ONLINE
Website: www.pieroclementegarreffa.com
Instagram: @ohnopiero
Blog: ohnopiero.blogspot.com
RMIT Art Grad Festival Archive
