Aron
Demetz

Biography Exhibitions

The link with places of origin is inseparable from and innate in Aron Demetz’s way of making art. Deeply rooted in sculptural tradition and having an expert knowledge of wood, this young artist from Alto Adige creates modern and revitalized sculpture and at the same time he is heir to a past intent on reaffirming the centrality of figuration.

The human being is the focus of his research; the close study of bodies, gazes and anthropological attitudes are taken as a basis for an in-depth analysis of contemporary moods. Powerfully expressive yet never aggressive-in fact, the artistic gesture is concise, terse, essential, vigorous but also delicate – the forms appear compact and static, light and sinuous. By a process of streamlining and polishing Demetz’s work rises above representation pure and simple to become actual emotional transfiguration. His choice of wood constitutes the principle feature, but also the starting point of his working method, which first takes the trunk of a tree – pine or cedar – and then moves on to include different materials and techniques, from the application of pale colours to silver leaf or sheets of aluminium, and in his most recent works, poured resin or beeswax.

Biography

Aron Demetz was born on 29 September 1972 in Vipiteno (I). His first artistic training took place between 1986 and 1993 at the Art Institute of Selva di Val Gardena. Between 1997 and 1998 he studied sculpture in Christian Höpfner's class at the Academy of Fine Arts in Nüremberg. Since 2010 he holds the chair of Fine Arts in Carrara and since 2020 the chair of sculptures at the academy of fine arts of Venice. The artist lives and works in Selva di Val Gardena, near Bolzano, since 1999.

Exhibitions

Among the main solo shows we remember:

2023
Aron Demetz, The Project Space, Pietrasanta (I)

2022
Autarkeia – Il richiamo della materia, Museo MARCA, Catanzaro

2019
Body and Soul, Carnary Wharf, London (UK)
Aron Demetz, National Museum of Art - Cluj-Napoca (RO)
Aron Demetz, Museo Lavazza, Torino

2018
Autarchia, MANN - Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (I)
Aron Demetz, Center for the Arts, College of Social Science, and Koo Chen-Fu Memorial Library, National University of Taiwan (TW)

2016
Il peso di un pensiero, la forza di un’opera, certosa di S. Giacomo, Capri (I)
Aron Demetz, Castello di Rivara, Rivara, (I)
Aron Demetz - L'Eco della Cenere, Museo de Arte e Historia de Guanajuato, (MEX)

2015
Memoridermata, Art Center Hugo Voeten, Herentals (B)

2014
Arp Museum, Bahnhof Rolandseck (D)

2012
Aron Demetz Il Radicante, Macro Mattatoio Pelanda, Roma (I)
Panorama 4. Neue kunst in Südtirol, Forte di Fortezza (I)
Aktuelle Positionen Italienischer Kunst. Premio Agenore Fabbri, Stadtgalerie Kiel, Donaueschingen, Permanente Milano, Roma (I)

2011
Lo Stato dell’Arte – Padiglione Regione Trentino Alto Adige, 54° Biennale di Venezia, Palazzo Trentini, Trento (I)
Solide Fragilità, solo show, Villa Bottini, Lucca (I)

2010
Ver-Wandlungen, Metamorphosen von Skulpturen im Wandel der Zeit, solo show, Augustinermuseum Rattenberg (A)
Moderne Beeldhouwkunst uit Noord-Italië, Museum Coda Apeldoorn (NL)

2009
53° Biennale di Venezia. Collaudi, Padiglione Italia Arsenale, Venezia (I)

2007
58° Premio Michetti, nuovi realismi, Fondazione Museo Michetti, Francavilla al Mare, Chieti (I)

2006
Aron Demetz, solo show, Museo Archeologico, Milano (I)

He has also exhibited in numerous group shows, both private and institutional, such as:

2023
The second skin, Paolo Maria Danesi Gallery, Trento (I)
Dove c'era una volta il mare, CerModern, Ankara (TR)
Group Show, Raritygallery, Mykonos (GR)
Sinn & Form, Granaio di Nomi (I)
Walking the fields of dreams, Galleria Visavu, Woudrichem (NL)

2022
The dreams of a story, Biennale di Venezia, Pavilion of the Cóte d´Ivoire, Magazzini del sale, Venezia
Alberi – 30 frammenti di storia d´Italia, Museo del 900, Mestre
Antonio Canova e la scultura contemporanea, Museo Canova, Possagno
Canova tra innocenza e peccato, Museo MART, Rovereto
Gazing of tranquility – Italian contemporary sculptures, Wuhan Art Museum, Wuhan - Zhejiang Art Museum, Zhejiang - Guandong Museum of Art, Guandong (China)

2021
L´Arte al tempo del Covid, MAC Sao Paolo (BR)
Hétérotopie, Bubble´n´Squeak Space, Brussel (B)
Rettet den Wald, Museum Het Valkhof, Nijmegen (NL)

2020
Anillos Concentricos, Museo Espacio, Aguascalientes (MX)
Biennale Gherdeina 7, St. Ulrich (I)
Unlearning categories, Museion, Bolzano (I)
Ritornanti. Presenza della ﬁgurazione nella scultura italiana, Castello Gamba, Aosta (I)

2019
ArtSiteFest, Pallazzina di caccia di Stupinigi, Torino (I)

2017
The Game, Kunsthalle West Eurocenter Lana (I)
Rodin and the Contemporary Figurative tradition, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids (USA)
Il passo sospeso. Esplorazione del limite, Fondazione Ragghianti, Lucca (I)
Legno-Len-Holz, un itinerario nella scultura contemporanea, Gallerie Civica, Trento (I)

2016
La Torre di Babele, Ex Officine Lucchesi, Prato (I)

2011
Ladinia, Tiroler Volkskundemuseum, Innsbruck (A)
Messaggi dal Legno, Villa Manin, Passariano Udine (I)
Premio Maretti Valerio Riva memorial 3a edizione, Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato (I)

2010
VII Biennale d’Arte di Postumia giovani, Museo d’arte Contemporanea Gazoldo degli Ippoliti, Mantova (I)
Tridimensions today, indagine sull’arte plastica fra creazione e trasmissione del sapere, Fondazione la Versiliana, Pietrasanta (I)
Quali cose siamo, III Triennale Design Museum, Triennale del Design Milano (I)

2007
Les fleurs du mal, Arcos Museo di Arte Contemporanea, Benevento (I)
Nuovi pittori della realtà, PAC, Milano (I)
La nuova scena artistica italiana, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan (RC)

2006
Kunstkörperlich – Körperkünstlich, Kunsthalle Domenikanerkirche, Osnabrück (D)