Mauro Bonaventura

Mauro Bonaventura dialogues with glass souls as he does with a friend, a traveling companion, talking about his own emotions and the sensations that come to him from within when he comes into contact with matter, an almost visceral relationship, a telling of stories from the present and the past that narrate the beauty and charm of the Venetian universe and the element that most represents it, the sea.

Mauro was born in Venice in 1965. At 18 he graduated with a diploma in electronics. In his search for a job, fate and providence gave him an opportunity to become an apprentice in the age-old tradition of Venetian glassblowing.

Right from the start, he fell in love and was mesmerized with the incandescent quality of glass. His career began with learning the techniques of glassblowing and glass decoration and to date he remains in the glassmaker’s trade.

It was a turning point for Mauro in 1992 when he was fortunate to be invited by a glass maestro to observe him in lampworking. A new passion struck Mauro when he realized this technique enabled him to explore a new and exciting way of working with glass on a closer and more intimate level. After months of evening observation and practice with the maestro Mauro Bonaventura decided it was time to leave the glass factory and concentrate and channel all his energies on the technique of lampworking. He set up his own studio to become a full-time independent artist.

Mauro was involved in typical Venetian production pieces of glass animals, rings, pendants, and other objects. However, Mauro had an urgent need to satisfy his creative pursuits in the field of sculpturing work. He enrolled in the “Liceo” in Venice which specializes in Art subjects. After attending four successive years of evening classes in drawing, sculpture, painting and anatomy, Mauro received his diploma in 2003.

In the subsequent course of his lampworking career, we have seen Mauro Bonaventura’s artistic development growing from strength to strength with his life-like figures often encased in intricate network of cages or spheres. He continues to hone his skills and perfect his mastery of the medium of glass to create outstanding and thought-provoking art pieces.

Bonaventura’s works fully reflect his interests, his educational background and his life. They are often objects of intricate forms, usually spheres created from a not entirely chance tangle of flexible colored glass threads, that on one hand recall electrical circuits, on the other the branchings of nerve cells.

These colored cages often contain female or male bodies, alone or in pairs, flexible and harmonious in their attempt to free themselves from the tangle of threads.It almost seems that Bonaventura’s works release an opposing tension that on one hand clutches and enfolds his figures in the multicolored skeins that imprison them and from above opens the door for them to another world of a distant freedom, perhaps the most important, that of the spirit and of ideas.

Technique

Lampwork is a branch of glass processing carried out by means of a burner, commonly called “torch” in which oxygen and methane gas (but also alternatively also propane) are mixed to obtain a correct combustion so as to obtain a flame quite ” hot “, inside which glass rods (semi-finished) can be melted, (attention melted not dissolved) and the manual skill of the worker will cause those same sticks to become more or less elaborate glass objects. To be sure not to incur unpleasant “breakages”, is necessary to rely on a glass tempering furnace, the kiln. These are equipped with thermocontrollers and can follow the perfect annealing of the glass.

Each creation is unique and as such it contains unique details, the result of the emotions of a precise moment.

A journey that begins in the workshop and continues in the environments in which each work will come to life. Choose the collection, fill in the form with the data and send the request to book the works. We will respond as soon as possible with availability and prices.

PUBLICATIONS

• Vitraria. Vetri artistici storici industriali . Catalogue. S. Vito al tagliamento. Italy, 2005
• American Style Magazine. The ABC of glass art. USA,  August 2005
• Passeggiata effimera. Tra arte, vita, moda e ambiente. Montegrotto(PD). Catalogue. Italy, 2005
• Mostly Glass Gallery. The ABC of glass. Catalogue. USA,  2005
• Corriere Del Veneto. “La Mostra” : Venezia, le sculture di Bonaventura e Signoretto. Italy ,2005
• Mauro Bonaventura e Pino Signoretto. Pax de Deux. Catalogue. V&A  Gallery. Italy, 2005
• Il Gazzettino. Venezia rinasce in Giappone. Nagoya Glass Museum. Italy, 2005
• New Glass Review 26. The Corning Museum of Glass. Published in “Neues Glass”.New York. USA , 2005
• Il Gazzettino. Vetri nel mondo oggi, esperienze a confronto. Venice. Italy 2005
• Alto Adige. La fragile arte del vetro. Glas&Modern. Bolzano. Italy, 2005
• Glashaus. Mauro Bonaventura, Surreal Visions . Cover and article p. 6 and 7. Germany, 2004
• 1^èrebiennale internationale. La Puissance du verre. Catalogue. Musèe Outil, Troyes. France,  2004
• Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti.  Vetri nel Mondo Oggi. Catalogue.  Italy, 2004
• Vitraria. Vetri artistici storici industriali . Catalogue. S. Vito al tagliamento. Italy, 2004
• New Glass Review 24. The Corning Museum of Glass. Published in “Neues glass” New York. USA , 2003
• SOFA. Mostly Glass Gallery. Catalogue. Chicago. USA, 2003
• Chapeau Magazine. Murano: Glasblazers Gezocht.  Maasticht, Nederland,  2003
• Art Form. The international Fair for dimensional fine Art. Catalogue. Florida. USA, 2003
• Glass Roots. Visit from Italian Artist. Newark, New Jersey. USA,  2003
• Glass Art Society Journal. 32^nd Annual Conference. Catalogue. Amsterdam, 2002
• Rossella Junck Gallery. Venezia Vetro 2002. Catalogue. Italy, 2002
• Arte n.350. Flash sulla creatività. Venezia Vetro. Italy, 2002
• Leon Salet Gallery. Maastricht meet Murano. Catalogue. Nederland, 2001
• Furukawa Art Museum. Massimo Nordio, Zoodiac. Catalogue. Nagoya. Japan, 2001
• Il Gazzettino. L’inquietante meditazione di Bonaventura. Gallerie di Mario Stefani. Italy, 1999
• Il Gazzettino. Mauro Bonaventura, volumi e moduli irreali. Gallerie di Mario Stefani. Italy, 1998

EXHIBITIONS

• Glass Art Society. Demonstration at the 36th Annual GAS Conference. St Louis, MO. USA, 2006
• Vitraria. Vetri artistici storici industriali. S. Vito al Tagliamento (PN). Italy, 2005
• Pharmaka Gallery. Venice II Venice. Los Angeles, California. USA, 2005
• Mostly Glass Gallery. The ABC of Glass. New Jersey. USA, 2005
• Palazzo del Turismo. Passeggiata effimera. Montegrotto Terme (PD). Italy, 2005
• V&A Gallery. Pas De Deux. Mauro Bonaventura e Pino Signoretto. Venice. Italy, 2005
• Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti. Vetri. Nel mondo. Oggi. Venice. Italy, 2004
• Ass. Culturale “La Corte”. Raccolta Di Vetri. Sambruson di Dolo. Venice. Italy,  2004
• Musèe de l’Outil. La Puissance du Verre. 1^ère biennale internationale. Troyes. France, 2004
• Vitraria. Vetri artistici storici industriali. S. Vito al Tagliamento (PN). Italy, 2004
• SOFA. Mostly Glass Gallery. Chicago, Illinois. USA, 2003
• Mostly Glass Gallery. Goblets,whimsical & functional.  Englewood, New Jersey, USA.  2003
• GlassWeekend. Contemporary and traditional italian glass art.  Melville, NJ .USA,  2003
• Mostly Glass Gallery. Introspection. A solo exhibit. Englewood. New Jersey. USA, 2003
• Artform. International art fair. Palm Beach, Florida. USA, 2003
• Craft Alliance. Eclectic goblet. St. Louis, Missouri. USA, 2003
• SOFA.  Rossella Junck Gallery.  Chicago, Illinois, USA. 2002
• Sable V Gallery. A gatering of glass. Winberly, Texas, USA. 2002
• Rossella Junck Gallery. Venezia Vetro. Venice, Italy. 2002
• Mostly Glass Gallery. Miniature Art.  Englewood, New Jersey, USA. 2002
• Glass Art Society. Demonstration at the 32nd Annual GAS Conference. Amsterdam, Holland. 2002
• SOFA.  Mostly Glass Gallery. New York, NY, USA. 2002
• Mostly Glass Gallery. Glass: Abtract & Figurative. Englewood, New Jersey, USA. 2002
• International Art Fair. Art in Multiple Media. Palm Spring, California, USA. 2002
• Leon Salet Gallery. Maasrticht meet Murano. Maastricht, Holland. 2001
• Galleria Vento D’arte. Introspezione. A solo exhibit. Milan, Italy. 2001