Mario Ceroli
(Castel Frentano, 1938)
Educated at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, under the guidance of Leonardo Leoncillo, Pericle Fazzini, and his master Ettore Colla, Mario Ceroli initially directs his interest in ceramic works. In 1957 he experiences the use of wood (mainly tree logs pierced by nails) with which he wins the Young Italian Sculpture award the following year. At the end of the 1950s, the artist chooses wood as the main material to work with. The shapes embossed in the wood by the artist include letters, numbers, geometries, and objects, which can be traced back to a personal reinterpretation of the great classics of art history. The first shapes of human figures projected and cut into the wood, obsessively repeated and serialized, date back to 1965 which will remain the most typical theme of his production. His artworks, defined as “invasive,” were more than appreciated in the cinema and theater fields. Consequently, the artist exploited his talent working as set designer and collaborating with Teatro Stabile of Turin and theater Scala of Milan. Currently he lives and works in Rome.
Among his solo and group exhibitions, we can mention: Mario Ceroli (Galleria del Naviglio, Milan, 1966); Mario Ceroli (Gallerie Bonino, New York, 1967); Venice Biennial (Venice, 1966; 1968; 1976; 1982; 1984; 1988; 1993; 1995); Vitalità del negativo nell'arte italiana 1960/1970 (Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome, 1970); The Artist and the book in twentieth-century Italy (MoMA - Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1992-1993); Italics. Arte italiana fra tradizione e rivoluzione 1968-2008 (Palazzo Grassi, Venice, 2009; Museum of Contemporary Art of Chicago, Chicago, 2009-2010).
