Nicola Salvatore was born in Casalbore, in the province of Avellino, in 1951, has been living in Como since 1977 and holds a chair in painting at the Brera Academy of Fine Arts in Milan.
In 1975, he took part in the X Rome Quadriennale. After moving to Como in 1977, he presented Whales at the Principality of Monaco Institute of Oceanography and in 1979 at the Colonna in Como (catalogue by Crispolti).
In 1981, he showed at the Inquadrature Gallery in Florence (catalogue by Sanguineti).
In 1982, he showed at Taide in Salerno (catalogue by Dorfles), in 1984 at TransForm in Paris(catalogue by Caramel) and the Giulia Gallery in Rome, in 1986 at Avida Dollars in Milan (catalogue by Verzotti).
In 1991, he showed in the Chapel at Villa Rufolo in Ravello (catalogue by Caramel and Parisi).
In 1993, he was at the Palazzo Volpi Painting Collection in Como (catalogue by Gualdoni) and in 1994 at the Arcadia Nuova Gallery in Milan (catalogue by Gualdoni).
In 1996, he showed at Manuela Nanni in Milan (catalogue by Bignardi, Caramel, Crispolti, d’Avossa, Dorfles, Gualdoni, Parmesani, Poli and Tassinari) and the San Marino Gallery of Modern Art with Organ Pipes (catalogue by d’Avossa). In 1999, he was at the Brera Botanical Garden in Milan with Cyclopic (catalogue by Meneguzzo) and took Volcano Iron to the Royal Forest at Capodimonte in Naples (catalogue by Bignardi, Borghi, Caramel, Cherubini, Dorfles and Meneguzzo).

In 2001, he had a personal show entitled “Between Two Rivers” in Alessandria (catalogue by d’Avossa and Poli), while in November he held “Antilogic” in Como (catalogue by Bignardi, Borghi, Caramel, Crispolti and d’Avossa) dedicated to The Whale.
In 2004 , he showed in the Regional Contemporary Art Fund at Baronissi, near Salerno, with a personal show entitled “Places of Imprinting” (catalogue by Bignardi). In September of the same year, he was in Palazzo Alfieri, Asti, with Lands of Whales (catalogue by Bignardi), and was invited by Marisa Vescovo to take part in the “Drawing Marble” event in Palazzo Binelli, Carrara.

In the spring of 2005, he took part in the XIV edition of the Rome Quadriennale, in the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, and was also in Dresden with a series of works about whales in the Gallery of the Art Academy. He represented Italy at the Universal Exposition in Aichi, Japan.
In 2007, he showed in the Royal Museum in Beijing with Playing with textiles, in the Yapi Kredi Museum in Istanbul and in the South Coast Plaza, in California. In May, he was in Milan with the exhibition “Mixed techniques for the desert” at the Palazzo delle Stelline (catalogue by F.A. Miglietti).
In 2008, he was at the China International Exhibition Centre in Beijing with the installation The Empire is Fabric and at the Cdream in Genoa.