Aron
Demetz

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.  

Exhibitions

Among the main solo shows we remember: 2022, Autarkeia – Il richiamo della materia, Museum MARCA, Catanzaro, (I); 2019, Body and Soul, Carnary Wharf, London (UK); Aron Demetz, Museum Lavazza, Turin (I); Aron Demetz, National Museum of Art - Cluj-Napoca; 2018, Autarchia, MANN - Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (I) and 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) and Aron Demetz - L Eco della Cenere, Museo de Arte e Historia de Guanajuato, (MEX); 2015, Memoridermata, Art Center Hugo Voeten, Herentals (B) and the year before, Arp Museum, Bahnhof Rolandseck (D). Other important solo-show are: 2012, Aron Demetz Il Radicante, Macro Mattatoio Pelanda, Rome (I), Panorama 4. Neue kunst in Südtirol, Forte di Fortezza (I) und Aktuelle Positionen Italienischer Kunst. Premio Agenore Fabbri, Stadtgalerie Kiel, Donaueschingen, Permanente Milano, Rome (I); 2011, Lo Stato dell’Arte – Padiglione Regione Trentino Alto Adige, 54° Biennale di Venezia, Palazzo Trentini, Trento (I) and Solide Fragilità, solo show, Villa Bottini, Lucca (I); 2010, Ver-Wandlungen, Metamorphosen von Skulpturen im Wandel der Zeit, solo show, Augustinermuseum Rattenberg (A) and Moderne Beeldhouwkunst uit Noord-Italië, Museum Coda Apeldoorn (NL); 2009, 53° Biennale di Venezia. Collaudi, Padiglione Italia Arsenale, Venice (I); 2007, 58° Premio Michetti, nuovi realismi, Fondazione Museo Michetti, Francavilla al Mare, Chieti (I); 2006, Aron Demetz, solo show, Museo Archeologico, Milan (I).

He has also exhibited in numerous group shows, both private and institutional, such as: 2022, The dreams of a story, Biennale di Venezia, Pavilion of the Cóte d´Ivoire, Magazzini del sale, Venice (I); Alberi – 30 frammenti di storia d´Italia, Museo del 900, Mestre (I); Antonio Canova e la scultura contemporanea, Museum Canova, Possagno, (I); Canova tra innocenza e peccato, Museum MART, Rovereto (I); 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, Ortisei (I); Unlearning categories, Museion, Bolzano (I);  Ritornanti. Presenza della figurazione nella scultura italiana, Castello Gamba, Aosta (I); 2019, ArtSiteFest, Pallazzina di caccia di Stupinigi, Turin (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) and 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) and 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) and Quali cose siamo, III Triennale Design Museum, Triennale del Design Milan (I); 2007, Les fleurs du mal, Arcos Museo di Arte Contemporanea, Benevento (I), Nuovi pittori della realtà, PAC, Milan (I) and La nuova scena artistica italiana, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei, Taiwan (RC); 2006, Kunstkörperlich – Körperkünstlich, Kunsthalle Domenikanerkirche, Osnabrück (D).

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.