Mr Save the Wall: “Everyone is the choices they make.”

“While sitting down, I had a lot of ideas, but only by getting off my ass could I realise them”. Pierpaolo Perretta is a multifaceted artist, whose work depicts sacred monsters such as Banski or Damien Hirst, and with a very special story that began in his hometown of Como.”

A job as a manager, an excellent salary, various benefits, but also the constant feeling of being a caged lion: “I approach my work with imagination and creativity because I think that problems are solved first and foremost with imagination by looking at them from a different perspective. Unfortunately, sometimes this liveliness clashes with different visions.”

Creativity, however, is a river, and you cannot stop the flow of water with your bare hands: “I wanted to leave messages, it was something I felt inside me and wanted to express, I had all the spray cans I needed, but the first time I was faced with a wall I couldn’t do it. It was beautiful like that and had to be preserved according to the will of those who built it. So I retrieved some cardboard from some boxes and on these, I began to write my messages. I taped them on the walls of our city, signing myself as ‘Mr. Save The Wall’; the man who saves the walls, literally.”

Perretta’s work immediately attracted a great deal of interest and the national news even christened him ‘the gentleman writer’. For a while he remained anonymous, continuing to wear the role of manager. “I left messages, even little provocative ones, and soon my work began to be recognised for their artistic value. The drawings and works became more and more elaborate and always with a message of reflection behind them.”

The step was short and decisive: “Shortly afterward, I revealed myself, quit my job, and started my activity as an artist by opening my studio where day and night I utilized my creative side, which has always been self-taught. From Geppetto buying Pinocchio at Ikea to the little bird trying to dialogue with the Twitter logo to the author’s most famous work ‘Kiss Me’; a frog in a suit and tie that warns us of the difference between the way of posing and the way of being.”

The Atelier is an immediate success, but everything changed when it was spotted by Ingrid Williams, an authoritative writer for the New York Times, who included it in the ’15 Things to see in 36 Hours in Como’, which gave it a very important and well-deserved recognition worldwide.

It was all born on the shores of the lake: “Como has its roots firmly planted in the lake but the branches reach out to the whole world. It has a unique international flair that few cities in the world can say they have and this is very nice. About the club of Como 1907, I like the artistic style, which can be seen on their beautiful jersey, as well as their focus on the community and social issues.”