Mimmo Rotella was born in Catanzaro on October 7, 1918. After completing his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples, in 1945, he moved to Rome where, following his initial figurative works, he developed an abstract-geometric style. As an alternative expressive method in 1949, he invented “epistaltic” poetry: a combination of words, even invented ones, whistles, sounds, and onomatopoeic iterations. In 1951, he held his first solo exhibition at the Galleria Chiurazzi in Rome and received a Fulbright scholarship, allowing him to travel to the United States. There, he spent a year at the University of Kansas City, creating a mural, exhibiting at the Nelson Gallery in Kansas City, and performing phonetic poetry at Harvard University in Boston.

Upon returning to Rome in 1953, after a period of creative crisis, he created his first décollage pieces. Using torn advertising posters from the city walls and pasting them onto canvas, he continued his abstract exploration. Starting in 1958, he focused on figurative décollage, creating the Cinecittà series using the faces of movie stars and figures from film posters; Marilyn Monroe, in particular, became an icon in his work. In 1961, at the invitation of critic Pierre Restany, he joined the Nouveau Réalisme movement. Three years later, he moved to Paris, where he developed a technique called “Mec-Art.” By projecting negative images onto emulsified canvas, he created works that he first exhibited in 1965 at Galerie J, curated by Restany. He continued his exploration by creating the Artypo series, using chosen typographic print proofs freely pasted onto canvas. In 1975, he created the first Plastiforme pieces: torn posters placed on polyurethane support.