or 10 years now Velasco has had a predilection for sculptures of dogs, molding and assembling them with a great variety of materials.The artist refrains from realistic description, he puts forward neither interpretations nor judgments and he follows no storyline; he limits himself to staging a fascinating and alienating visual creation, to encourage contemplation, generating new sense and meaning.
1960Born in Bellano, near Lago di Como, Italy. His sphere of activity originally devoted to drawing and graphics soon developed to painting and sculpture. The meeting with Giovanni Testori and his taking part in the exhibition Artists and Writers at the Rotonda della Besana marked his calling.
1990Following a number of one-man shows Velasco”s work begins to concentrate on the tragedy that destroyed Valtellina at the end of the Eighties. The result is the exhibition Paesaggio Cancellato organized by Roberto Tassi in 1990.
1990A distinctive trait of Velasco’s work is his constant interest in portraiture which gained approval in exhibitions and publications. His relation to the group Officina Milanese, at the end of the Nineties reveals a new interest: he discovers Sicily and the south of Italy.
2004Electa publishes Velasco20, a monograph with an article by Giulio Giorello and Charta brings out the catalogue for Extramoenia an exhibition that travels from Milan to Palermo.
2006Velasco carries out a site-specific project for Teatro dell’Arte in Milano, Italy
2007Since 2007, Vitali collaborates with his designs in the “Corriere della Sera”.
2010Vitali invades the Piazza del Duomo and the complex of St. Augustine with an art project that combines painting and sculpture, curated by Fernando Mazzocca and Francesco Poli (Skira publishing), Pietrasanta, Italy
2010 – 2011Velasco’s impressive sequel of works titled “Sbarco” are exhibited in Milano, from the Central Station to the Palazzo Reale, where his dogs literally invade the space, Milano, Italy
2012He did Foresta Rossa, an art intervention on Isola Madre (Stresa) and in Verbania, curated by Luca Molinari, Italy
2013Solo painting exhibition Foresta Rossa: 416 città fantasma nel mondo at Triennale di Milano, curated by Luca Molinari and Francesco Clerici
2014He showed the sculpture Traditio Symboli in the Cathedral of Milan and took part in the IV Biennale Gherdeina of sculpture in Ortisei, Val Gardena
2015He was invited to the Berlinale (FIPRESCI award winner) as producer and protagonist of the documentary Il Gesto Delle Mani (directed by Francesco Clerici) which shows the making of his bronze dog sculpture
2017He curates and designs (with the collaboration of Peter Greenaway) the exhibition of his father Giancarlo Vitali “Time Out” at Palazzo Reale, Sforesco Castle, Museum of Natural History and Casa del Manzoni (Milan)
Exhibitions
2017“SBARCO AD ANCONA” curated by Flavio Arensi, Ancona, Italy
2017Public garden of Indro Montanelli in collaboration with Orticola / Arte Contemporanea, Milano, Italy
2016“STESTORI”, Teatro Franco Parenti, Sala Testori, Milano, Italy
2016“SBARCO A TORINO”, Arte alle Corti. University of Torino, Italy
2016“LATO 4”, Omaggio ad Aldo Rossi
2015Solo show “Fuga” (curated by Mark Gisbourne and Giacinto di Pietrantonio) in Emilio Mazzoli Gallery in Modena, Modena, Italy
2013Aria, LKFF Arts & Sculptures projects, Brussels, Belgium
2013Castello Ruffo, Sicilla, Italy
2012FORESTA ROSSA, Italy
2012SBARCO A VERBANIA, Italy
2011Solo Exhibition, LKFF Art & Sculpture Projects, Brussels, Belgium, Belgium
2010Velasco Vitali: SBARCO A MILANO, Stazione Centrale – Palazzo Reale a cura di Fernando Mazzocca e Francesco Poli, Milano, Italy, Italy
2010Solo exhibition: Chiesa e Chiostro di Sant’Agostino, Piazza del Duomo a cura di: Fernando Mazzocca e Francesco Poli, Pietrasanta, Italy, Italy
2009I paesaggi e la natura dell”arte, group show devoted to the relationship between art and nature at the ARCOS Museum, Benevento, Italy
2008Project LATO4, together with Danilo Eccher, Italy
2008Triennale Bovisa, Junkbuilding, Italy
2007Pittura Italiana 1968-2007, Palazzo Reale, Milano, Italy, Italy
2007In Sondrio (with Marco Gastini and Simon Starling), Italy
2007Images Shapes and Nature in the Alps (Electa), curated by Danilo Eccher., Italy
2007Ultime Ultime Cene at the Cenacolo Vinciano (Galleria Gruppo Credito Valtellinese and Piccola Sacrestia of the Convent Santa Maria delle Grazie), Milano, Italy, Italy
2003Mixtura (Charta) with Franco Battiato, Italy
2000Isolitudine (Charta) with Ferdinando Scianna , Italy
1990Paesaggio Cancellato organized by Roberto Tassi, Italy
Collections
Private and public collections hold works by Velasco: amongst them Collezione Farnesina of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and MACRO, Museum of Contemporary Arts, Rome, Italy
