ITALY

 

Name: Giulio Candussio
Place of birth: Paularo (Udine)
Date of birth: September 03, 1945
Resident of: Spilimbergo (Pordenone)

Biography

As a young boy, Giulio attended the Mosaic School of Friuli. Since then, he didn’t have any real artistic formation, so in fact he is a self-educated artist.

Since his early apprenticeship, he developed his unique individual perception of the art of mosaics. Open to experiments, he vastly applied various materials and techniques, which set him apart from the conventional craftsmanship mainstream.

Still, his personal aesthetic and creative search should be traced back to his painting of the sixties. Since then, he has been participating in numerous art exhibitions on a going basis.

In 1980, he became the Art Director of Bisazza, an industry leader in the production of glass mosaic for floors and walls. In this capacity, Giulio became a real trendsetter promulgating artistic experiments and creative research. He coordinated implementation of a number of key mosaics projects designed by modern artists (some recent projects include pieces of mosaic art based on the sketches created by Hoffmann, Hopkins, Tadini, Sabonet, Mendini, and Pozzati).

The spectacular mosaics for Tottenham Court Road tube station in London designed by Sir Eduardo Paolozzi (1983) is probably the most challenging and impressive mural project in Candussio’s portfolio.

Further, the 1980s were the decade of the pioneer applications of computer graphics and multi-media technologies in mosaic art. Mural mosaics for the pavilions of the Bisazza building in Spilimbergo became one of the most innovative high-tech projects. To make these gigantic murals, an enlarged copy of Piero Dorazio’s picture (1989) was projected onto the building’s facade. Encountering with Dorazio’s art works meant a new trend in Giulio’s creative evolution as an artist. This trend is characterized by “cooldown” of forms, and a search for new vibrating colors, aggressive and sophisticated. Reiteration of minute graphic symbols, similar to pieces of tesserae, made his works look like mosaics.

In 1994, Giulio became a member of the teaching staff of the Mosaic School of Friuli, and in 1999, as a member of R&D Committee, he was appointed a person in charge of planning the curriculum activities. Since 2004 he has been the Art Director of the Mosaic School of Friuli till date. His office as the Art Director at Spilimbergo school contributes greatly to renovation and professional retraining which are underway in the recent years.

A combination of personal artistic investigations and training expertise are the factors behind his comprehensive research in the domain of mosaic expressiveness. His many-years research which goes back to his attempts to revaluate and renovate the techniques used by ancient mosaic artists has ultimately resulted in Stele, a project he has been involved in since the 1990s. The project owes its success to powerful, three-dimensional imagery and vitality of mosaic texture which is achieved by the process of progressive simplification and purification of a sign.

In 2002, he implemented a number of large-scale art works at FIAT R&D Centre in Turin for the Art Park.

The next impressive project which is worth mentioning is a 37 meters long and 4 meters high panel. This artwork, named Iridescent Rainbow (Saetta Iridescente), presented by Giulio Candussio to the New York City, is located at the Temporary World Trade Center PATH station. Saetta Iridescente is an explosion of colors symbolizing energy and distant view into the future.

Currently, Giulio Candussio is the Art Director of Trend S.p.A. in Vicenza. In this capacity, he cooperates with internationally recognized craftsmen. He is committed to applied research in all spheres of mosaic art.