A Ballet dancer prepares backstage during the final dress rehearsal for the famous Nutcracker ballet by Pyotr Tchaikovsky at the Joburg Ballet, Johannesburg, South Africa, 04 October 2018. The premiere of Nutcracker is scheduled for 05 October and the show will run for two weeks. (Photo by Kim Ludbrook/EPA/EFE)

Nursery plants are seen placed in people's seats during a rehearsal as Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu opera reopens its doors with a concert for plants, to raise awareness about the importance of an audience after the coronavirus lockdown, in Barcelona, Spain on June 22, 2020. The Gran Teatre del Liceu reopens its doors, in which the 2,292 seats of the auditorium will be occupied on this occasion by plants. It will be on 22 June, broadcast live online, when the UceLi Quartet string quartet performs Puccini's “Crisantemi” for this verdant public, brought in from local nurseries. (Photo by Nacho Doce/Reuters)

A cosplayer poses during Day 2 of London MCM Comic Con 2019 at ExCel on May 25, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Jack Dredd/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Torchbearer Hou Bin runs with his torch during the Beijing 2022 Paralymic Torch Relay and Flame Lighting Ceremony at the Temple of Heaven park in Beijing, capital of China, March 2, 2022. The flame for the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games was collected at eight locations in Beijing and Zhangjiakou. Each collection is followed by a relay of no more than 20 torchbearers on-site before the gathering of nine flames at the Temple of Heaven. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Giraffes doing the splits to get a drink of water from the watering hole at the Zimanga Private Game Reserve in South Africa on March 31, 2022. (Photo by Hendri Venter/Animal News Agency)

People walk during a rainfall in the old quarter of Sanaa, Yemen on June 25, 2022. (Photo by Khaled Abdullah/Reuters)

A member of the Boi Bumba Garantido association performs during the Boi Bumba folklore festival at the Bumbodromo in Parintins, Amazonas State, Brazil, on June 28, 2024. Parintins is well-known internationally for its Boi Bumba folklore festival, which lasts for three days in late June and whose themes, costumes, and songs are based on indigenous cultures of the Amazon rainforest. (Photo by Michael Dantas/AFP Photo)

Matteo Pugliese was born in Milan in 1969. In 1978 his family moved to Sardinia and lived there for the next 12 years. During this time he developed a strong love for drawing and sculpture and practiced without formal education. After finishing his secondary school studies in classics in Cagliari, he returned to Milan to attend university. In 1995 he was awarded his degree in modern literature at the University of Milan with a graduation thesis on art criticism.