Mario Dilitz

Dilitz was not always a sculptor but was previously a freestyle skier successfully taking part in both the European and World Cup championships. As a child however, Dilitz spent a lot of his time in his father’s carving workshop and even did some wood carving himself. At the age of twenty-five Dilitz gave up competitive skiing for the chisel, enrolling himself in a specialist school of wood sculpture in 1998.

He combines traditional sculptural knowledge and technical skills with a contemporary viewpoint to create sculptures with their own powerful and unusual presence.  His distinctive wood sculptures are made by joining many narrow sections of wood with coloured glue which forms a very strong block from which to carve. Each wood sculpture, whether this is walnut, oak or limewood, bears individual characteristics of the wood grain in its delicate surface.  Dilitz’s wood figures are made in small series of each subject.  He also produces his work in bronze, in close collaboration with a foundry in Italy.

Dilitz’s sculptures have a still, calm and peaceful exterior but their neutral gaze suggests to some an inner anxiety or restlessness. He prefers not to explain too much and to leave the viewer to feel the powerful presence of his works and draw their own conclusions and enjoyment from his creations.

Among his most well-known pieces are the ‘Boy with Shark’ and the ‘Boxing Boy’ which Dilitz has made in bronze as well as in different types of wood, on both a small and large scale.  In the last few years Dilitz has embarked on making his bronze figures on a monumental scale which have a commanding presence. They are often finished in a soft unpolished patina, which is perfectly attuned to the subject. His monumental work can now be found in a variety of different outdoor settings worldwide where they transform the spaces they occupy with their arresting mystery.