Valerio Zezur's memoir and material art gain international reach

Italian-Ukrainian artist Valerio Zezur is extending his autobiographical project with an English-language memoir while his mixed-media paintings draw new interest in Tokyo, Berlin and Dubai. The shift signals a practice that is moving from local context toward a broader international audience.

Why it matters: - Valerio Zezur is pairing a memoir with a visual practice that is now reaching beyond Italy. - The English edition of Inside the Nightmare, Beyond the Darkness: Or how I learned to stay opens the project to U.S. readers through Barnes & Noble. - The wider circulation could help Zezur's work travel as a standalone visual language, not just as a personal story.

What happened: - Zezur, a 25-year-old Italian-Ukrainian artist based in Italy, has expanded the audience for his autobiographical project with an English-language edition of his memoir. - The book is now available in English, while the Italian edition Dentro l’incubo, oltre il buio is available in print, ebook and audiobook formats. - Zezur's recent work has drawn professional interest from the United Arab Emirates, including Dubai. - His exhibition record includes a group exhibition in Tokyo in 2025 and a project in Berlin in 2026. - Zezur has also shown work and taken part in cultural initiatives in Padua, Rovigo, Bosisio Parini, Taglio di Po and other Italian locations. - In 2026, Zezur was included in Blu Giotto, a collective project in Padua focused on the city and its visual identity.

The details: - Zezur works primarily in mixed-media and material painting. - His materials include acrylic, plaster, sand, fabric, wood, metal, natural elements, recovered materials and gold leaf. - He cuts, layers, abrades, stitches and reopens surfaces instead of smoothing them over. - Cracks, fragments and worn materials remain visible in the finished work. - The memoir traces childhood in Ukraine, loss, institutional care, migration to Italy and the reconstruction of identity. - Zezur says in his artist statement, "I do not paint to represent what I have lived through. I paint to give form to what often cannot be named." - In Ferita Cucita (Stitched Wound), straw, grain, coarse fabric, rope, metal, plaster and acrylic form a surface crossed by a visible seam. - In Cuore in Frantumi, Oro in Cammino (Heart in Fragments, Gold in Motion), broken wooden elements interrupt the painted surface and are built into a new structure. - Gold leaf appears repeatedly in the work, often placed near tension, fracture or abrasion. - The English edition of the memoir is titled Inside the Nightmare, Beyond the Darkness: Or how I learned to stay.

Between the lines: - The memoir gives readers the biographical frame, but the paintings are increasingly being asked to stand on their own. - Zezur's approach treats damaged material as a carrier of memory rather than something to disguise. - The work's visibility in Tokyo, Berlin and Dubai suggests a shift from a local biography to a practice with broader international legibility. - The combination of writing and visual art appears to be moving toward independence, with the book telling the story and the paintings testing what remains without explanation.

What's next: - Zezur is entering a phase of consolidation rather than reinvention. - The materials and core themes are staying consistent, while the conversation around the work is widening. - International exhibitions and new readership for the memoir could further extend the reach of the practice beyond Italy.