ARTISTIC RESEARCH
The mask follows in parallel the history of man from the primitive beings to the present day... for me, who have been working on it all my life, it is a very powerful symbol, a door, a metaphorical mirror that invites us into its mystery, into its inside and its outside to reflect on our complexity and our contemporaneity.
The mask places the man in front of himself: it is a mirror that returns to him reflections, echoes and resonances of his presence, evocations andsigns of his surface, of his inside and his outside, with which he has to come to terms for a testimony of its contemporaneity.
CURRICULUM VITAE / BIOGRAPHY
Gualtiero Dall’Osto (Thiene, Vicenza, Italy, 1960) completed his artistic training at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, student of the Maestro Emilio Vedova.
He has attended courses in sculpture and theater and has participated in seminars on the history and technique of the mask. In the 1980s he attended courses with Donato Sartori and was one of the protagonists of the rediscovery and relaunch of the Venetian Carnival with Maurizio Scaparro.
He has been a guest in the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Spain, Austria and Indonesia to represent the Art of the Mask and exhibit his works.
He practises Venetian rowing with the so-called “mascareta” (a typical Venetian boat, whose name sounds like “mask”). He still works in the heart of Venice to forge faces of all physiognomies, taking care of two mask workshops and a costume atelier.
His keen interest in the problems inherent to artistic craftsmanship in Venice is constantly expressed through interventions published by the local and international press, such as Il Gazzettino, La Nuova Venezia, NYCVE.
Activities and exhibitions:
- 1985: group exhibition in Frankfurt on the occasion of the first edition of the Italian Handicraft Exhibition
- 1987: collaboration with Luigi Squarzina for the opening ceremony “The Color of Italy” of the World Championships in Athletics in Rome.
- 1991: personal exhibition in Chicago at the Marchetti Gallery within the “Italy in America” exhibition
- 1992: personal exhibition at “Mitshoukosky” in Tokyo, Japan
- 1996: collective exhibition “Masks of the Venetian Carnival”, Bundeshandelsakademie. Bruck / Mur, Austria
- 1997: participation with his masks in the show entitled “Banda Variabile di Invenzione Musicale” in Berlin for “La Dolce Vita” festival - with the participation of the singers Milva and Andrea Bocelli
- 1997: participation by invitation by the designer Gai Mattiolo at the “Divina Roma” fashion event in Piazza del Campidoglio
- 1999: participation in the “Italian Square” Italian Craft Exhibition organized by the Sister Cities Committee at the Cultural Center of Chicago in the United States, where he also held theoretical lessons on the making of the traditional Venetian papier-mâché masks
- 2000: realization of “La Chimera” on the occasion of the Millennium, the sculpture with the likeness of the Lion symbol of Venice which, traveling by water for a month throughout the city, was the bearer of all the more positive past regenerated in the new Millennium
- 2017: performance at Casa Goldoni Museum “Un.a Maschera.io a Casa di Carlo - The Tour of the Mask in 80 Minutes”
- 2018: exhibition at the ArtePadova Fair of some of his works and realization of the performance “Maschera Io, su Chiunque Persona”, where Dall’Osto was awarded the second prize of CATS (Contemporary Art Talent Show)
- 2019
· Exhibition “La Maschera Abitata” during the Carnival of Venice, at the Caffé Lavena in St. Mark’s Square
· Conception and realization of the performance “El va! El va! El Carneval el va! ”, Greeting to the Carnival from ancient texts revised by the historian and writer Danilo Reato, on Ash Wednesday. 6 March 2019, Rialto Fish Market.
· Personal exhibition “MIMESIS – La Maschera allo Specchio - Beyond La Biennale di Venezia 2019” in the space of San Tomà 2874, from 11 May to 24 November.
· Participation in the historical regatta with the “Bauta-Felze” Gondola, which Gualtiero Dall’Osto designed and set up.
· Performance “The Silent Scream of the Serenissima Dinosaur” for the Day of Handicraftsmanship organized at the Pescherie di Rialto by the Rialto Novo Committee, on 22 September 2019.
Ø Since 1996 he has taught Sculpture and Modelling in the Professional Training Courses promoted by the Veneto Region.
Ø Since 2000 he has been going to Spain every year where he teaches at the “O’ Pelouro Axeito” Experimental School of Psycho-pedagogical Innovation and Integration founded and directed by JR De Llauder Riesco and Teresa Ubeira Santoro.
Ø Since 2015 it has welcomed high school students in its Laboratory for the educational experience of Alternanza Scuola Lavoro (Law 13 July 2015, n.107).
Ø In 2014 he is Co-Founder and for the first 3 years he held the position of President of the “Compagnia l’Arte dei Mascareri” Association, with which he created the “Ballata delle Maschere senza Abitanti” within the Official Events of the Venetian Carnival with which the Association continues to collaborate with the Mardi Gras event “La Ballata delle Maschere con il Taglio della Testa al Toro”, which takes up and interprets an ancient anecdote of Mardi Gras from 1162.
He made some masks for S. Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut”.
He made a mirror-decorated mask for Pop Star Lady Gaga in the “Poker Face” video.
Publications
- 2020: Juliet Art Magazine, n. 197 (april 2020 - may 2020), “L’Urlo Muto della Serenissima DInosaura” Danilo Reato
- 2019: Juliet Art Magazine, n. 195 (December 2019 - January 2020), “La Maschera Abitata”, Danilo Reato
- 2018: Die Masken der Serenissima (The Masks of the Serenissima), Danilo Reato, ISBN: 978-3-9816870-9-5
- 1996: Le Maschere di Carnevale a Venezia, Edizioni Turismo Veneto
Laboratory and teaching activities
Gualtiero Dall’Osto has carried out mask decoration workshops in his workshop for individuals, couples and families, young and old, including Mr. Francois Henri Pinault and his wife the actress Miss Salma Hayek with their little daughter, Mrs. Monika Deol - Canadian television celebrity, actors Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie with their numerous children, Ben Stiller and his family, Rosamund Pike and his daughter.
Media Coverage
In September 2005, the French periodical “Paris Match” published the images taken at Tragicomica in a service dedicated to Venice by Madame Anne-Laure Le Gall.
In January 2006, the New York Times published the interview that Mr. Alex Crevar carried out with Gualtiero Dall’Osto in his whokshop, testifying to his art and the success of his productions on an international scale.
In February 2006 the reporter Mrs. Wing Liu of the weekly “East Week” in Hong Kong followed the Venetian Carnival and made a report on the “Great Treasure Hunt” organized by Gualtiero Dall’Osto as part of the carnival celebrations.
