Bangkok: conference and workshop with sculptor Dionisio Cimarelli

On 27 March, the Italian Embassy in Thailand, in collaboration with the Faculty of Fine Arts of the Bunditpatanasilpa Institute, is hosting a conference by Italian sculptor Dionisio Cimarelli. On 28 March, the artist will hold a workshop.

Born in Jesi (in the province of Ancona, Marche) in 1965, Dionisio Cimarelli has taught at the New York Academy of Art, founded by Andy Warhol in 1980, and at The Art Students League of New York where many of the most prominent American artists of the 20^th century have studied. He is known for combining the Italian sculptural tradition with that of Chinese porcelain in his works. Awarded in 2019 as "Marchigiano dell'anno nel mondo" (Marchigiano of the year in the world), he was recognised by the New York Academy for his "ability to change the world of the arts". Cimarelli's artistic career has largely taken place abroad. In 2010, he created a monumental sculpture of Matteo Ricci for the Italian Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo. Many of his works are on display in different parts of the world, such as in the Louvre Museum in Paris, the Royal Church in Copenhagen, the Royal Palace in Stockholm, the Strasbourg Cathedral, and at The Institution of Civil Engineers in Westminster, London.

Cimarelli began his career creating abstract anthropomorphic shapes inspired by surrealism. From 1983 to 1990, he produced works in terracotta, wood, bronze and marble. Inspired by his conservation experience at the Louvre Museum in Paris, France, Cimarelli then switched to figurative sculpture in 1991. Studying the techniques of sculptors such as Donatello, Michelangelo, Jacopo della Quercia and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, he produced sculptures in wood, bronze, stone and marble. In 2001, he created a marble sculpture of St. John the Baptist, which was first exhibited in Oslo, Norway. Since 2007, Cimarelli has created a series of contemporary figurative sculptures in porcelain with colourful surface finishing.