Daniele Tozzi is an Italian lettering artist whose work derives from the field of graphic design and graffiti. Born in Rome in 1981, Tozzi came in contact with the underground culture in the second half of the 90s, when he started writing graffiti. After high school, he graduated in Digital Design on European Design Institute (IED) in the capital of Italy and began to work as a graphic designer for different brands both as freelance and agencies.
For inquiries and works in USA please contact Marlena Agency.
Co-founder at FuoriStudio, creative design Lab based in Rome.
Lettering
The core of Tozzi’s highly refined and personalized body of work is lettering, a visual art related to writing, his newly discovered love for lettering made the young artist engage in studying of diverse techniques and tools, until he found his own style of letters. Over the years, Tozzi began to paint paper with acrylic paint and colored ink by using an old technique that fuse lettering and design: the calligram. Tozzi’s artwork created by the words are formed or supported by different fonts and writings, not infrequently referencing graffiti. One of the biggest inspiration of the artist is music, so many of his artworks are made by words and quotes taken from music background of the artist cleverly arranged into shapes that became objects or silhouettes. The lettering Daniele Tozzi employs in his artistic practice is a permanently changing experiment filled with typography, famous slogans or songs, mottos, or important notes from the cultural heritage or beliefs of the artist.
Clients Companies
Fendi – Jeckerson – Mercedes-Benz – Ceramiche Ragno – Marazzi Group – Nastro Azzurro – Birra del Borgo – Chesterfield – Poste Italiane – Casio G-Shock – Fondazione teatro dell’opera di Bologna – IED Roma – Regione Lazio.
Art Exhibition
2010 – Eclettica festival, collettiva, Roma2011 – “Starts”, collettiva presso Bras café, Palazzo Braschi Roma2012 – “Calligrammi 2.0” personale, presso Ass. Cult. 30 Formiche, Roma2013 – “Words into shapes” personale, presso spazio espositivo “Al cubo”, Roma2013 – “Words into shapes” personale, all’interno del festival Caffeina, Viterbo2014 – “Indoor/Outdoor” collettiva, presso Centro Espositivo San Michele, Pisa2014 – “Wordplay” personale, presso la Galleria Varsi, Roma2015 – “CTL – Calligraphy, Tipography, Lettering” collettiva, presso Spazio Porpora, Milano2015 – “CTL – Calligraphy, Tipography, Lettering” collettiva, presso spazio espositivo Bonobolabo, Ravenna2015 – “CTL – Calligraphy, Tipography, Lettering” collettiva, presso HappyCentro, Verona2015 – “Sei X Tre”, collettiva presso Galleria Varsi, Roma2016 – “The Shape of Type” personale, Galleria Portanova12, Bologna2016 – “Io scrivo sui muri” collettiva, presso Museo Crocetti, Roma2016 – “ID-Dante” collettiva, presso Biblioteca di Storia Contemporanea, Ravenna2016 – “Bozze di lettere a mano libera”, personale – Teatro del Lido di Ostia, Roma2017 – “Le personali di Graffiti Zero”, personale – presso Garage Zero, Roma2018 – Arte Fiera 42 Bologna, con Fondazione Teatro Comunale di Bologna2018 – “Sogninfranti” personale, presso Galleria Docks74, Torino – “Cartastraccia” personale, presso Question Mark Milano.
Urban art
He never considered himself as street artist, even if it happened that art festival and projects involved him to make walls and big productions. Street art is something very linked to graffiti, made in the night time, without any permission, just spontaneous acts that leave messages on the streets, they can be words for the graffiti or visuals for street art. He consider itself a lettering artist, began from the streets and then evolved to paper and ink, and consider walls just like big canvases joining what can be considered the post-graffiti movement.
Pubblications
2014 – “Wordplay”, exhibition catalogue. Venexia Editrice (Italy)2015 – “LETTERING, Drawing Letters” by Carolina Amell, Monsa Publishing (Spain)2016 – “The Shape of Type”, exhibition catalogue2016 – “Lettering – Tips for creation”, Monsa Publishin (Spagna)2016 – “idDante”, catalogo della mostra, Longo Editore2017 – “Words into shapes – the graphic art of calligram” by Daniele Tozzi, Monsa Publishing (Spain)2017 – “MAAM. Museo dell’Altro e dell’Altrove di Metropoliz” by Giorgio De Finis, Bordeaux Edizioni2018 – “Scripted – Custom Lettering in Graphic Design” edited by Sandu Publishing, Hong Kong.