Robin
Summa

Robin Summa (France, 1994) is a mask sculptor and pedagog, as well as a writer. After his middle and high school years (completed in theater and music classes, and during which he perfected his practice of scenic arts and classical guitar at the Paris Conservatory) he started studying philosophy at La Sorbonne, Paris, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2014. He went on to teaching modern literature in French middle schools.

Starting from 2015, he took over his father Pierangelo Summa’s activity, who had passed on to him the art of creating and sculpting masks for theater and the performing arts. Specialized in Commedia dell’Arte masks, made of either leather or papier-mache, he also produces neutral masks, animal masks, and all kinds of innovative creations. He sells his work in theatrical bookstores, to private individuals and actors, school audiences, theaters and various independent companies.

He thinks of masks as objects of art, but also, if not above all, as popular and living objects, often subversive. The mask contains a story within itself, and is filled by the relationship that the actor holds with it and with "others": the audience, and more generally, society. The mask does not hide, it reveals ; it invites us to always re-examine the relationship between the individuals.

His original works and creations are regularly featured in showcases and exhibitions in France and Italy (Librairie française de Rome, 2019; Librairie de la Maison Jean Vilar, Avignon, 2019; Cavallerizza Reale, Turin, 2019; French Institute of Naples, 2020; Galleria Spazio Papel, Milan, 2020).