VITA

1982   Born in Bolzano on Dicember 23

1996 – 2000 Vocational school in Ortisei

2003   Concludes his apprenticeship

2008   Diploma at the institute Cademia in Ortisei

2009   Starting as an independent artist in his own art studio in Ortisei

He raises his figures on a pedestal. The everyday life moment becomes something sublime. The human being is in the spotlight and communicates with his observer. Matthias Kostner, a young artist from Val Gardena, creates wooden figures inspired by situations of the daily life. He lets his figures sit, lie down, jump, float, read, play … he creates wooden snapshots with lifelike facial expressions and gestures.He was born into a family of artists who have created woodcarvings for five generations. Some of them were renowned for their sculptures of saints, while others became famous on international level for making altars and exporting them overseas. Others followed their artistic inclination without any compromises.

Matthias Kostner, born in 1982, grew up in this context with a sense of tradition and know-how of contemporary art and is committed to traditional sculpture. He creates figures from everyday life, metaphors without existential pathos. His works have a great expressive power and they radiate the continuous and unalterable flow of life. The figures express dignity, pride, expressiveness and are characterised by something enduring, carried on from the invisible lines of history and culture of Val Gardena. What matters are not gags, art quotes, statements or provocations, but good craftsmanship, proportions and the understandable expression of the intensity of moments. Sculpture embodies the world’s energy and the permanent change of existing things.

Alberto Giacometti or Constantin Brancusi inspire Matthias the same way as his ancestors do: his father Felix and his two uncles Leo and Joseph. The latter is an artist who caused a great stir with his “mutilated” cement statues and who – together with other artists from his hometown – founded the group “Ruschel” in order to introduce new aspects to the local way of conceiving art, nearly half a century ago. This artist visited Henry Moore to find confirmation for his artistic ideas; he is an artistic spirit who was always close to his nephew Matthias. Also Matthias knows that one of the components of art is to transcend boundaries and venture into unsecured areas – and for him, this simply means the return to classical sculpture in motion.