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BIOGRAPHY

 

Alessandro Montalbano was born in Catania, Sicily, in 1962. He studied at the Fine Arts School in Florence where he received a solid education in painting and sculpture. Painting was its first vocation : a very expressionistic painting, frank colors, strong graphics and a free gesture. But the necessity of the volume and the material is going to incite him to give some explanation through the sculpture.

 

He arrived in Paris at the end of the eightie’s and then started his real experience of sculptor after re-examining the materials and techniques used at the Fine Arts School such as clay, plaster and marble. At this time, his perspectives became ever more complex : assemblages of plaster, metal and wood. In this work a very considerable part is left to voids, as it is indeed these voids which create the form just as much as the filled spaces. In 1994, one of his assemblages was awarded the Princess Grace Foundation’s Prize in Monaco, where he took part at the invitation of César who appreciated his work.

In 1994, Montalbano creates a bronze horse of two meters for an exhibition in Deauville. It is from this moment that he started his collaboration with the Susse foundry who had awarded one of his piece "Rearing horse" in 1991 and placed it alongside pieces by Giacometti, Richier, Zadkine... His first sculpture made of welded bronze was a monumental one "Et le septième jour..." ("And the seventh day..."), which will be acquired one year later, in 1995, by the Principality of Monaco, placing it in the Open air Museum with other pieces by Arman, Calder, César... This work is endowed with a very big strength : the horse is almost vertically reared, pushed by a powerful vital force ; its body is a mess of bronze pieces, not polished nor chiselled, a rough and raw aspect, extraordinarily assembled. In this work, the tension is for its height, tension inherent to the incredible strength which gets free of this horse but also due to the aggressiveness of the pieces and the bronze stalks.

The title "And the seventh day..." is an obvious reference to the Genesis, but here, it is especially about the creation, about the birth of the expression, about the plastic language of the artist.

For over 30 years, Montalbano has exhibited his work all around Europe and the United States in internationals fairs and exhibitions such as Arco in Madrid, Art Frankfurt, Art Brussels, Art Paris, Lineart Gent... During the summer 2002, he is chosen to represent Italy with a monumental sculpture "Le Voyageur des Sens", on the occasion of a european exhibition “Europa in beeld” in The Hague, Holland, with Manolo Valdes, Barry Flanagan, Maillol, Penck... In september 2003, the Espace Carpeaux in Courbevoie has organized the exhibition “Alessandro Montalbano 1983 - 2003 : 20 years of creation”. He has taken part in the 3rd International Sculpture Festival of Monte-Carlo during summer 2004 with the monumental "Maternity", among Arp, Gargallo, Haring, Lipchitz, de Saint-Phalle... In 2010, the Hospice Saint-Charles (Yvelines) welcomes the personal exhibition “Le sujet s’envole, le rythme reste”. From april to august 2015, the Hotel Dieu/Musée Greuze in Tournus (Burgundy), presents "De Genèse à Naissance" where Montalbano's contemporary work stage by the curator Mylène Grand, have a dialogue with the beauty and history of the place. In 2018, the City of Issoire presented his paintings and sculptures in the vast Jean-Hélion Halls, and the City of Cluny dedicated the Grande exposition d'été to him at the Ecuries St Hugues. In 2019, he invested the Galerie Haute de l'Embarcadère in Montceau-les-Mines with the exhibition “Les Interprètes”... Throughout the summer of 2022, nine of his monumental sculptures have been installed in the forecourt of the Portail des Jacobins in Carcassonne. In 2023 and 2024, his sculptures will join the Art In Situ course which combines contemporary art with the wine heritage of the Route des Grands Crus in Burgundy…

 

Since 2013, after 25 years of parisian life, Alessandro Montlabano moved to the South of Burgundy where he lives and works.

MAIN AWARDS

 

1994    Princess Grace's Foundation Prize, invited by César, Monaco 

1991    Susse Frères Fondeurs Prize, Paris

 

PUBLIC COLLECTION

 

2019    La Maison du Charolais - Département de Saône-et-Loire

2019    City of Montceau-les-Mines

1999    City of Drancy

1995    Monumental sculpture, Principality of Monaco in Les Terrasses de Fontvieille :

             Chemin des Sculptures Rainier III.   

 

MAIN EXHIBITIONS (*Solo exhibition)

 

2024    Jardins - Group show - Galerie Valérie Eymeric, Lyon (69)

   Grenoble Art'Up - WS Art Gallery 

   WS Art Gallery - Group show - Porrentruy (Switzerland)

   Parcours ART IN SITU // Sur la Route des Grands Crus, Beaune (21) 

   Lille Art'Up - WS Art Gallery 

  *Souvenirs - Galerie Mary-Ann, Mâcon (71)

2023   Kunst Zürich - WS Art Gallery (Switzerland)

  Art International Zurich with WS Art Gallery (Switzerland)

   WS Art Gallery, Porrentruy, Switzerland

   Parcours ART IN SITU // Sur la Route des Grands Crus, Beaune (21) 

2022    Parcours ART IN SITU // Sur la Route des Grands Crus, Beaune (21)

  *Monumentals sculpture exhibition, City of Carcassonne (11)

   Sculptures in the Jardins des Soussilanges, Céron (71)   

   Concours Ateliers d'Art de France, Regional Laureate 2022, Moirans-en-Montagne (39)

2021     Monumental sculpture exhibition at the Jardins des Soussilanges, Céron (71)   

2020    Exhibitions cancelled because of sanitary crisis

2019    *Mon voisin le Charolais - Les 20 ans de La Maison du Charolais, Charolles (71)  

    *Les Interpètes - Galerie de l'Embarcadère, Montceau-les-Mines (71)

    *Vers le Soleil - Galerie Mary-Ann, Mâcon (71)

             Galerie Izart, Pont-Aven (29) 

2018    Lyon Art Paper - Palais de Bondy, Lyon

    Art Protects - Librairie Yvon Lambert, Paris

    *Indomptable - Ecuries de St Hugues, Cluny (71)

    *Salles Jean-Hélion - Centre culturel Nicolas Pomel, Issoire (63)

    *Musée Jean Larcena, Saint-Aubin-Chateau-Neuf (89)

    ArtFareins - Biennale de sculpture, Fareins (01)

    *Art + Objets, Chapaize (71)

            Art Galerie, Jonzac (17)

            Galerie Izart, Pont-Aven (29)

2017    Art + Objets, Chapaize

    Passage des Arts : Regards croisés - Galerie de Buci, Paris

            Art Galerie, Jonzac

            Galerie Izart, Pont-Aven

2016    *Trait d'union - Galerie de Buci, Paris

    Art Protects - Espace Fondation EDF, Paris

            Art Galerie, Jonzac

            *Cloître des Carmes, Jonzac 

            Galerie Izart, Pont-Aven

            Galerie de Buci, Paris

            Salon Art contemporain et Antiquités, Champs Elysées, Paris

2015    *Trait sensible - Galerie Mary-Ann, Mâcon

            *De Genèse à Naissances - Hôtel Dieu/Musée Greuze, Tournus.

     Curator : Mylène Grand

            *Intérieurs - Chapelle Sainte-Avoye, La Clayette (71)

2014    Art Protects - Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris

            *Fièvre rose - Espace Ricard, Dijon

            Anges et démons - La Serrurerie, Beaune

            Contemporary Art Bienniale - Guest of Honor 2014, Marcigny (71)

            *Château de Chassagne-Montrachet (21)

            Le cheval sans restriction - Haras National de Cluny 

            Jardin de Sculptures - Maison d’Art - Collection Rex, Marcigny (71)  

            *La cadence des formes - Galerie Atelier des Arts, Tournus

            A vos papiers ! - Galerie Zonzon, Brest

            Galerie Atelier des Arts, Tournus

2013    Art Protects - Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris 

            Galerie Univers du Bronze, Paris

            Galerie Hofburg, Bressanone, Italy

            Galerie Zonzon, Brest, France

            Lagalery, Eze, France

2012    *Galerie Zonzon, Brest, 

            Lagalery, Eze, France

2011   Galerie Zonzon, Brest, France

            Art Protects - Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris,

            Zomer in Haarlem - Galerie Année, The Netherlands

            Galerie Schortgen, Luxembourg

            Lagalery, Eze, France

           *La série Apologies - Société Générale, Bourges

            Galerie Année, Haarlem, The Netherlands

 2010  *Galerie Année, Haarlem, The Netherlands

           *Le sujet s’envole, le rythme reste

            Hospice Saint-Charles, Rosny-sur-Seine, France

            New Talents, Art Gallery 826

    Knokke-le-Zoute, Belgium

            Affordable Art Fair - Art Gallery 826 - Paris

            Lille Art Fair - Art Gallery 826 - Lille, France

            Art Gallery 826, Knokke-le-Zoute, Belgium

2009   Art Protects - Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris,

            Galerie Anagama, Versailles, France