Matthias Kostner
'Visions'

You have to be a visionary to imagine that a fish would allow itself to be embraced in such a way. Clear and bright, linden wood is Matthias Kostner's favorite material. The little girl has been left almost unfinished, as he usually does with human figures. The fish, on the other hand, has been painted in oil. Its tropical 'livery' stands out against the paleness of the skin, but that's not enough; it is soon overwhelmed by the girl's conscious expression of proud possession as she holds it to her heart without crushing it.

It is “My World”, the piece chosen to represent Visions, the exhibition by Matthias Kostner at the Ravagnan Gallery in Dorsoduro from October 11 to 29, 2024.

The artist from Ortisei doesn't indulge in rhetoric. These bodies aren't posed, although they may seem ethereal at first glance. The perceived solidity comes from the ancient nativity scenes of his Val Gardena, carved through the hard work of daily life.

With maturity, the family craft, rooted in five centuries of artisanal mastery, has found its fulfillment in a personal narrative and a contemporary language. Kostner sculpts emotions, clothing them, half-painting them, hanging them on poles, placing them on high pedestals, or even atop a trash can. Bright balloons lift them like hot air balloons or weigh them down like ballast.

A boy flies, clinging to an airplane wing. He wears goggles and floaties and smiles. Reckless, unaware, and trusting, as one should be at the beginning of a journey, just as the artist reminds us: "Let yourselves be touched by the power of art and rediscover the world through the eyes of a sculptor." Matthias Kostner's works possess the unique ability to reveal the extraordinary in the ordinary, to find opposites within reality.

Matthias Kostner was born in Ortisei, Val Gardena, in 1982. He began training in the family tradition at a young age, later attending the Professional School of Sculpture in Ortisei.
In 2009, he opened his workshop and distinguished himself at the Unika sculpture fair. He has exhibited in Italy and abroad, including in Germany, France, Belgium, Greece, and Taiwan.