Álvaro Zardoni

Álvaro Zardoni (born January 4, 1964) is a Mexican sculptor and architect of Italian descent who has been a member of the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana since 2006. Although he studied painting and drawing in the 1970s and 1980s, he is a self-taught sculptor who began showing his work regularly in 2000. Since then, he has had over thirty individual exhibitions, twenty private showings and his work has appeared in over 100 collective exhibitions. He specializes in small bronze sculptures which focus on the human face, which is almost always male, expressing something emotional and/or psychological. Objects, often common, are added to the piece to reinforce the main theme of the work, for example the addition of coins on the foreheads of pieces of the Cyclops collection.

Life

He was born in Colonia Roma of Mexico City. From his earliest childhood he knew he wanted to be an artist.

In addition to his work in art, he worked in a number of fields and projects. In 1987 who worked at the design workshop Gómez-Vázquez and Associates in Lomas de Chapultepec. From 1988 to 1991 he worked with the audiovisual department at the Universidad Anáhuac and gave classes in architecture. From 1988 to 1996 he worked independently on architectural projects and with firms in the far west of Mexico City. From 1992 to 1993 he was an assistant in art direction and stage sets for IMAX, Filmcore and Cineconcepto. From 1996 to 2002 he was a project director with the Linea de Tierra company in Lomas Altas, Mexico City. From 2003 to 2008 he worked as a design assistant for the Brigada Plástica in Colonia Roma. Since 2009, he has been a partner with the Mijangos-Zardoni Studio which works on translations and subtitles.

He is single and has no children.

Art career Except for a one exhibit at the Plata Restaurant in Colonia Condesa, he did not begin to exhibit his sculpture until 2000. Since then he has exhibited his work in various galleries, government spaces, cultural centers primarily in Mexico and the United States but he has also had his work shown in Argentina, Germany, Spain and Italy. He has had over thirty individual exhibitions, twenty private presentations and participated in over 100 collective exhibitions. Principle showing include Los Pinos in 1996, the Agora Gallery in New York in 2003, the Museo de la Ciudad de México in 2003, the Universidad Autónoma Chapingo in 2005, the Galería Manuel Garcia in Oaxaca in 2006, the Instituto Potosino de Bellas Artes in San Luis Potosí in 2006, the Casa de las Américas in Havana in 2007, the Galería Blanco in Saltillo in 2008 and the Secretaría de Gobernación in 2009, the Salón de la Plástica Mexicana in 2011, and Rising Art and Ismos galleries in 2012. He has regular showings at the Dante Gallery in Puerto Vallarta. Private presentations include Torra Altus in Mexico City (2012), Arte Galería in Polanco (2012), as contributor in Leah Poller's "unmade-bed" project in New York City (2010), auction at the Modelo Museum of Science and Industry in Toluca (2009), Casa de los Gitanos in Ajijic (2007), Hotel Casa Bonita in San Miguel Allende (2006), Maria Sicardi Studio in Mexico City (2004) and pieces created for a film called La Tregua based on the novel by Mario Benedetti (2002) .

His work can be found in private collections in Mexico City, Miami, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, New York, Minneapolis, Portland, Eugene, Seattle, Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Stuttgart, Vienna, Rotterdam, Lisbon, Madrid, Milan, Paris and London. His faces can be somewhat androgynous but he almost never depicts women in his work. He says he does not like caricatures and prefers more subtle and realistic expressions. Although he generally works from photographs he collects from various sources, a number of the works appear similar to his own face.