Sculptor, painter, and engraver, Donato Linzalata lives and works in Genzano di Lucania (near Potenza). After studying fine arts in Bari, he graduated at the Academy of Fine Arts of Naples under the tuition of Emilio Greco and Augusto Perez. While working as s graphic designer and printer, he has committed himself to sculpture.
For his alluring sculptures, mainly made of wood but also of iron, marble and clay, he has been named ‘the master of myth’. Indeed he draws inspiration from his ethnoanthropological roots, thus prefers wood as that material was essential in the Archaic period, widely used during antiquity and, more limitedly, in the modern era. Fascinated with the Romanic three-dimensionality of relief as well as the sense of immutability in time characterising the Egyptian heritage, he developed his own style – sombre and remindful of the history of Lucania while bringing in elements from the Mediterranean culture as a whole. The human figure may be still visible in his totems, while geometrical patterns often prevail in his sculptures, sometimes conjoining abstraction and figuration.
In 2011 he exhibited at the 54th Venice Biennale, Regione Basilicata, touring to the Sala Nervi in Torino. He has been given awards at the Ist Biennale Internazionale di Lecce, the Triennale d’Arte Sacra di Lecce, the Xth Florence Biennale (2015), and the 2nd prize ex-aequo for sculpture at the Biennale di Benevento (2016). His works are in renowned private and public collections in Europe.
For his alluring sculptures, mainly made of wood but also of iron, marble and clay, he has been named ‘the master of myth’. Indeed he draws inspiration from his ethnoanthropological roots, thus prefers wood as that material was essential in the Archaic period, widely used during antiquity and, more limitedly, in the modern era. Fascinated with the Romanic three-dimensionality of relief as well as the sense of immutability in time characterising the Egyptian heritage, he developed his own style – sombre and remindful of the history of Lucania while bringing in elements from the Mediterranean culture as a whole. The human figure may be still visible in his totems, while geometrical patterns often prevail in his sculptures, sometimes conjoining abstraction and figuration.
In 2011 he exhibited at the 54th Venice Biennale, Regione Basilicata, touring to the Sala Nervi in Torino. He has been given awards at the Ist Biennale Internazionale di Lecce, the Triennale d’Arte Sacra di Lecce, the Xth Florence Biennale (2015), and the 2nd prize ex-aequo for sculpture at the Biennale di Benevento (2016). His works are in renowned private and public collections in Europe.
PANDORA
SCULPTURE
Wood, subtractive sculpture
50 x 64 x 25 cm
2015
50 x 64 x 25 cm
2015