Willy VERGINER
Italy
Willy VERGINER (b.1957) was born in Bressanone. He attended the Art Institute of Ortisei, where he studied Painting. He currently lives and works in Ortisei Italy.
After graduating, Willy VERGINER worked in various wood sculpture studios in Val Gardena. In the 80s, through self-learning, he started to construct his own visual language breaking away from the conventional approaches. Later in the 90s, together with Walter Moroder, Bruno Walpoth, he founded the art group 'Trisma'. After ten years of skill-honing, 2005 marked a turning point for Willy VERGINER. His new creations were exhibited in Galleria Castello in Trento, a captivating artistic language with acrylic paints combined with the warm texture of wood was showcased in his story-telling figurative sculptures. Willy VERGINER's creations employ lime tree wood and covers them with detail-less sections of acrylic paint and gold, which challenge the audience's somatosensory. There is a strong sense of levitation in his sculptures, yet the center of gravity always being perfectly balanced. He intentionally places the statues to stand in a suspended posture, creating a strong visual tension as if the time had been stopped that drag the viewers' thoughts into the works.
His works have been displayed in numerous international exhibitions, including Anthropocene, Gallery Zemack, Tel Aviv (2023), Il Giardino Perduto, Chiesa di Barnaba, Bondo Trento, Italy (2022) 、Zemack Contemporary Art , Israel (2019) 、Wasserman Projects, Detroit, US (2016) 、Théâtre de l’absurde, Museum Ianchelevici, La louviére, Belgium (2015) 、Museum of Contemporary Art of Lissone, Lissone, Italy(2014) 、Trentino Alto Adige, La Biennale di Venezia, Italy (2011) 、Cavalese Contemporary Art Center, Cavalese, Italy (2012) 。His works been collected worldwide, including the Museum of Contemporary Art in Lissone, Cavalese Contemporary Art Center, Gallery Zemack in Tel Aviv, Galerie LeRoyer in Montreal, and Wasserman Projects in Detroit.