Andrea Anastasio (b. 1961 Italy) is a cosmopolitan transcultural soul and artist; part designer, part philosopher,part writer. Born in Rome,Anastasiotraveled to India at age 18 where he discovered another world – a non Euro-centric world. Now several years later, he has developed a deep and layered knowledge of art, religious studies, music, theater and philosophy. Anastasio obtained a degree in philosophy from the University of Venice. It was his interest in philosophy and history that opened the doors to the Memphis Group, a team of Italian designers and architects who created highly influential products in the 1980's by challenging the idea that products had to follow conventional shapes, colors, textures and patterns. Between 1989 and 2002, Anastasio worked on designing objects for everyday, domestic use that employed materials originally intended for specialized purposes like high-tech industrial outputs and/or construction. He also worked with fabrics and textiles to compose soft three-dimensional sculptural installation as well as lamps for Artemide, pieces of furniture, tableware, glass objects and office accessories for Sawaya & Moroni, Danese and Memphis.

In 2002, Anastasio branched away from working as a professional designer to concentrate on his art practice. He has created objects for domestic spaces utilizing high tech industrial materials as well as rich textiles and garments. Recently Anastasio published an artist book, Fingerprint, a visual fable that celebrates resistance to state surveillance and control. Andreas Anastasio's work appears in many permanent collections and has been exhibited at Gallery SKE, Bangalore, Laure Genliard, London, La Triennale de Milano, Milan, Alessandra Bonomo Gallery, London and Galleria Alessandra Bonomo, Rome. Andrea Anastasio lives between Italy, India, Japan, Hong Kong and the United States.

Andrea Anastasio came to the Gardner Museum in 2004 under two roles- one as an Artist-in-Residence, and one as exhibition designer and collaborator for the Chairs exhibition; a project that brought together an artist, a furniture historian, a designer, an educator and a filmmaker with three of the Gardner's curators. Anastasio spent his residency working on several projects and doing research on Mrs. Gardner's aesthetics, and the anthropological aspects of the chair. He later gave an Eye of the Beholder lecture entitled Standing Between the Earth and Sky where he discussed the cultural, economic, political, and anthropological aspects of the chair as well as its role in the domestic, work, public, religious, artistic, and literary environments.

As a collaborator on the Chairs exhibition, Anastasio helped 2002 AIR and photographer Dayanita Singh install her exhibition and created Amnesia, his own personal installation gift to Singh in which he transformed Singh's photographs by projecting them onto the back of a museum chair. His travels have allowed him to return to the Gardner for short stays. In 2005, he attended the opening of A Pagan Feast, a project in the Tapestry Room by 2005 AIR Michele Iodice. In November 2008, Anastasio was invited by Joan Jonas to participate in the second reiteration of Reading Dante, a live reading and video performance held during Gardner After Hours. Filmed excerpts from this performance are now incorporated into Jonas' Reading Dante video piece.