Frank Somma has been fascinated with clay modeling, practical special FX, puppetry, toy design, stop motion animation, and film design since early childhood. Inspired by artists and filmmakers such as Egon Schiele, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Alex Grey, Richard MacDonald, Stanley Kubrick, and the Brothers Quay, he attended the School of Visual Arts, and later worked for master toy designer Digger Mesch at Art Asylum Productions making prototypes for Marvel Comics action figures. He also studied under MTV stop-motion animator and FX artist Eric Fogel. These experiences allowed him to realize that his nature is as a three dimensional artist.
In 2000, Frank went on what he believed would be a short trip to Florence, Italy. A chance encounter on the street with another artist led him to meeting the director of the sculpture program at the Florence Academy of Art, Robert Bodem. This was a turning point as he instinctively felt that he had found at FAA the intensive classical foundation to allow him to imagine life as a fine artist, following the traditions of Carpeaux, Trubetskoy, and Minne. Under the tutelage of Bodem and sculptress Lotta Blokker, he remained at FAA for four years and graduated from the program, offering Siren as his thesis.
After FAA, Frank opened a studio in the historically artist and artisan-dominated Porta Romana/Santo Spirito neighborhood in Florence, where he began his professional body of work. He began exploring personal and psychological themes, starting with his seminal work, Introspection. In it the figure is literally peering inside himself and opening himself up to the unknown, as the artist was in his mind during its creation. This is the piece that set the tone for all future works.
2006 saw Frank moved his home and studio to Lucca where he continued to grow his collection and also began to work in the nearby bronze foundaries in Pietrasanta. He vastly expanded his knowledge of both the creative and technical aspects of sculpture while working as a detail expert in wax and bronze, and assisted on enlargement projects for renowned artists such as Botero, Mitoraj, Gina Lollabrigida, and Andrea Favilli. In particular, Frank performed the enlargement for the monument to Dr. David Burbank for Favilli that now stands in Burbank, CA. His works have been shown at the Palazzo Corisini in Florence, the Pietrasanta Arts Festival, the Accademia dei Belle Arti in Carrara, and are in several private collections in Europe.
Frank Somma returned to the United States in 2009 and opened up a studio in the New York City area, where he continues to show and create his sculptures.