Arcangelo was born in Avellino in 1956. He lives and works between Milan and San Nazzaro, in the province of Benevento. In 1976, he enrolled at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, where he graduated in 1980. In his homeland, in the early 1980s, he created his first series of works, Terra Mia, dominated by dark and dramatic atmospheres, made with humble and organic materials such as earths, charcoals, and pure pigments, marking a break from the vibrant colors of his contemporaries in the Transavanguardia movement. Terra Mia occupied Arcangelo for several years and laid the foundations of his work through the development of a stripped-down gestural signature, transforming the landscape into an abstract yet visceral and corporeal vision of nature. The theme of the Earth, the physical and spiritual place where signs and symbols of ancestral tradition accumulate, recurs in many subsequent cycles, enriched by insights and suggestions derived from exploring new cultural horizons. All of Arcangelo’s research, writes Ivan Quaroni, “is based on rootedness and a sense of belonging, and on sharing a cultural heritage, the Samnite one, which he has managed to extend and transform to include the legacies of other places and peoples.” An attachment to his place of origin that “has evolved and transformed into something more powerful and universal, generating a painting with a ‘global’ vocation, populated by influences from Africa and the Near East, the Mediterranean, distant China, and much more.” Arcangelo made his debut in Germany and Switzerland, at the Tanit Gallery in Munich and at the Buchmann Gallery in Basel, and with “Perspective,” an exhibition during ArtBasel in Basel. Followed by Galerie Janine Mautsch, Cologne; Galerie Pierre Huber, Geneva; Galerie Maeght-Lelong, Paris; Edward Totah Gallery, London. He participated in the XI and XII National Quadriennale of Art, Rome. In 1986, he opened the Galleria Guenzani in Milan and exhibited at PAC. Exhibitions continued in major museum and private spaces: Le Centre d'Art Contemporain La Ferme du Buisson, Marne-La-Vallée, Noisiel; Galleria Civica, Modena; Galleria Civica d’Arte Contemporanea, Trento; Musée d’Art Moderne, Réfectoire des Jacobins, Toulouse; Kai Forsblom Gallery, Helsinki; Galerie Lüpke, Frankfurt am Main; Galleria Municipale d’Arte Contemporanea, St. Priest; Galerie Bernard Cats, Brussels; Kodama Gallery, Osaka; Galerie Alice Pauli, Lausanne; Galleria Di Meo, Paris; Kunstverein, Braunschweig; Galleria Gentili, Florence; Caffè Florian, Venice; Fondazione Volume!, Rome; Lorenzelli Arte, Milan; PoliArt, Milan; Il Chiostro Arte Contemporanea, Saronno; Marco Rossi artecontemporanea Milan/Verona/Turin; Galleria Tanit, Beirut. In 2019, he held a major exhibition at the MA*GA Museum, Gallarate, and at Malpensa International Airport in the VIP Lounge, Terminal 1. In 2023, he inaugurated “Terra Mea” at Galleria Mazarine Variations in Paris and participated with Galleria Tanit with a solo exhibition at Art Paris in Paris and again with Galleria Tanit in Munich. In February 2024, he will inaugurate two exhibitions in Rome, at Marco Rossi artecontemporanea progetto Roma and at Fondazione Volume! with the installation exhibition “Morfina e Metamorfosi.” Numerous monographs and artist books have been published, and his works have been acquired by private and public foundations.