Michael Trovato
Much like many of the wrestlers that he illustrates & designs for Melbourne based artist Michael Trovato went through a period in high school where he left the passion behind. However, just like the wrestlers his true passion continue to call out to him. Ultimately that call became so loud that he had to return to art, & now Michael is producing his best work to date.
Reflecting back on his childhood during his interview with Pario Michael realised that art was perhaps always his true calling, "I have a pretty fond memory of telling my mum that I wanted to be an artist when I grew up, not really even knowing what that meant. I just knew that I loved art at the time."
So now that he is working as an artist & collaborating with many of his favourite wrestlers Michael said, "I'm really lucky to have a bunch of people out there who like my work enough that they allow me to design for them. It's always really surreal to see someone walk out with your design on their shirt or other people buying it."
For Michael his creative journey all began whilst watching cartoons in the morning & wresting on TV in the afternoon.
"Seeing Dragon Ball Z, which was pretty complicated animation for the time, was really cool & made me want to try it," recalled Michael. From there Michael said he moved on to drawing wrestlers such as "Chris Jericho, Jeff Hardy, and obviously as a 13 year old boy lots of Trish [Stratus] & Lita."
As the years went on Michael would then develop an interest in the 'tattoo flash' art style. It was here where he says he began to find his niche.
"I think where I've shined the most & got the most attention was from bringing pop culture references into the tattoo style of art."
One piece in particular that Michael recalls leading him down this path was his illustration of Grinspoon's Phil Jamieson when Michael was just 13-14 years old.
Given that his style incorporates tattoo art we had to ask if tattooing was ever a path he considered.
"It was at a point & may do so again in the future," answered Michael before continuing. "Part of the reason I stopped doing the traditional watercolour painting was that I started to develop a bit of a tremor in my early 20s, which doesn't bode well if you are trying to do traditional fine art. There's no undo button on paper or skin, so I transitioned to do everything on my iPad."
Looking ahead Michael says there is one wrestler he would love to collaborate with.
"I would love to do something for somebody like Bryan Danielson or anyone who gets me excited about wrestling - basically anyone who throws a good kick I'd be more than happy to draw for them."
Support Michael by purchasing a print at: www.michaeltrovato.com
Keep up with Michael on social media at: @MichaelBTrovato
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