Mario Ceroli was born in Castel Frentano (Chieti, Italy) in 1938.
Trained in Rome at the Institute of Art with teachers such as Fazzini, Leoncillo and Colla, Mario Ceroli, who first focused on ceramics, had an early and happy debut, winning in 1958 the prize for the Giovane Scultura (Young Sculpture) at the National Gallery of Modern Art in Rome. During these years he refined his art by working with ceramics at the studio of his teacher Leoncillo. Later, Mario Ceroli devoted himself to wood to emphasize the primary element, the emerging sense of the real things, the symbolic value of the work of art, the founding gesture of the artist. Working with rough wood, the artist has thus deprived the aulic and "noble" sculpture of its value, investing the natural and poor material with a new and strong representation capability. He also develops curiosity about various natural materials such as earth, glass and ice.
In 1966, at the Venice Biennale, Ceroli won the Gollin Award for Cassa Sistina. The artist was so established on the international scene and, in the same year, moved to New York where he remained until 1968.
Mario Ceroli also worked intensely for prose and music scenic design of great importance. His work is also visible to all thanks to important public works such as Il Cavallo (The Horse) of the RAI in Saxa Rubra, Rome, La Casa di Nettuno in Bologna, the Church and the Theater in Porto Rotondo, Sardinia, L’uomo di Leonardo da Vinci (The Man of Leonardo da Vinci) at Fiumicino Airport, Rome, the church in Tor Bella Monaca, Rome, the church at the Centro Direzionale, Naples, L’Albero della Vita (the Tree of Life) in Sestriere, Turin.
Mario Ceroli currently lives and actively works in Rome.
