| 1949 | ORONZO MASTRO was born in Grottaglie on 30 December. |
| 1967 | he finishes school with a diploma in the Art of Ceramics. |
| 1971 | he graduates from the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence with a diploma in Sculpture. |
| 1974 | he teaches Plastic Disciplines and Visual Arts at the Art Institute of Giarre, in 1975 at the Art School of Catania, in 1977 at the Art School of Genoa, in 1986 at the Art Institute of Modena and in 1996 at the art school of Bologna. |
| 1974 | he wins a national competition, organized by the Province of Milan, for a public work of art. |
| 1975 | exhibits at the Quadriennale d’Arte in Rome, an exhibition open to young artists and new trends in the figurative arts. |
| 1977 | he wins a competition for a Public Artwork, organized by the Sovraintendenza per i Beni Ambientali ed Artistici della Basilicata (Superintendence for the Environmental and Artistic Heritage of Basilicata). |
| 1979 | he begins his plastic research into the themes of “symbolic figuration” in sculpture, creating models in bronze or stone, to be enlarged and displayed in open outdoor spaces. |
| 1986 | in continuity with his previous research, he creates a cycle of “abstract-geometric” works to be enlarged in travertine and placed outdoors. |
| 1998 | he begins a cycle of “symbolic-figurative” and “abstract-geometric” works, in cold-worked brass, which are the sum of research into aesthetics, following in the tradition and innovation of the plastic language. |
| 2004 | he writes a “monographic essay” on the knowledge of art and the art of sculpture. Finished in 2014, and published in 2023 by Claudio Grenzi Editore. |
In 1964, while studying at the “Istituto Statale d’Arte per la Ceramica” in Grottaglie, the 15-year-old’s sculpture “Mal d’Africa” was awarded the first prize for sculpture (in an exhibition organized by “Lega Missionaria Cristiana”).
In 1967, he was enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence and worked as a self-employed moulder and decorator for a number of ceramic manufacturers in Sesto Fiorentino (Florence) until leaving school with a diploma in sculpture in 1971.
Living and studying in Florence proved decisive for the young artist’s training. In his opinion, “living” in such close proximity to the artworks of the Renaissance masters, going to countless museums and contemporary art exhibitions, as well as the turmoil of the student protests of 1968, were to influence his cultural and artistic choices over the years.
At the Academy, under Prof. Antonio Berti’s tutelage, he perfected his study of the human figure and began researching certain signs and symbols of the figurative language which seem to have captivating qualities and narrative functions.
One of his most drawn and reworked images in plastic form, between the late sixties and early seventies, was the ‘heart pierced by an arrow’. To the 20-year-old artist in search of a personal style and aesthetic identity, this symbol of adolescent love became the symbolic-evocative embodiment of deeper and hidden meanings. It symbolises the “union of the Masculine and Feminine”, the “Harmony and Confrontation”, the “Union of Opposites”, the “fluid line and form” that is joined and perfected by the “sharp and rough lines and forms”. It is almost a semantic variable of the more abstract and universal symbol of Yin and Yang, a paradigm and transcendence of Tao, Confucianism and Chinese philosophical religion.
On returning to Grottaglie, Oronzo opened a studio next to his father’s workshop where he created several painted wood reliefs, among which a plastic-pictorial panel titled “Ora Zero” which won the 1974 National Competition organised by the Province of Milan, and which is currently displayed at the Industrial Technical Institute of the City of Abbiategrasso (Mi).
Between 1972 and 1974 (artistically very productive years), he also completed the model of a sculpture which won the 1997 National Competition organised by the Sovraintendenza per i Beni Ambientali ed Artistici della Basilicata (Superintendence for the Environmental and Artistic Heritage of Basilicata). The bronze sculpture, titled Prima Monolite (First Monolith), is on permanent display in the gardens of the Regional Treasury Offices of the city of Matera.
In 1974 he was appointed chair of “Modelling and Art Education” at the Istituto Statale d’Arte (State Institute of Art) in Giarre (Catania, Sicily). That same year he exhibited a mixed-medium triptych titled Ritratti del Potere (Portraits of Power), at the 1975 edition of the Quadriennale d’Arte in Rome: an exhibition for young artists and new trends in the figurative arts. The triptych, a metaphor for political and religious power, was featured in a number of Italian art magazines of the time: Le Arti, Arti Contro, and Arti Duemila, and listed among the most noteworthy works of the exhibition.
At that time, the artist’s plastic-pictorial reliefs were unusually large and required several months to complete, which made capturing the art market quite impossible. His last work in painted wood titled Cerchio Nono (Ninth Circle), created between ’76 and ’77, is a personal-emotional metaphorical analysis of the dialogue between Dante and Count Ugolino in the Divine Comedy. With this intuitive work, a cycle characterised by technical experimentation and aesthetic research came to a close.
In 1977 he moved to Genoa to teach Figure, Ornate Modelling and Visual Arts at the “P. Klee” State Art School.
There is increased awareness that the figurative arts are the expression of an actual language with specific rules and dialectics, the architects of this language being the artists themselves. Hence the need to study the logic of perception and visual communication, in order to fully grasp the multiple aspects of the language of images; the need to look at the stylistic and aesthetic evolution of the history of images to understand the development and the grammar of this language.
In the meantime, as his awareness matured, the artist was able to explore the figurative arts with renewed critical thinking. The sculptures created between 1978 and 1986 are the result of the artist’s more mature exploration of the figurative arts. They are symbolic-figurative or abstract-geometric works born from a study on the narrative significance of images: a graphic and iconographic study inspired by the essay “Symbols of Transfiguration” by the psychiatrist, Carl Gustav Jung. Their plastic themes refer to some important, archetypal models of figuration; to the idea of “Fertility and Maternity”, “Male and Female”, “Regeneration and Rebirth”; to elements of the physical space: the “Sky, Earth, Water, Fire”, the “Faces and the Masks of the Sacred” and their symbolic value. They are bronze or polyester sculptures, designed to be enlarged and displayed in vast open spaces. These sculptures alone, through the language of sculpture, inspire reflection. A decade of study, teaching and working in a foundry, free from the pressure of exhibitions, competitions or commissions were to foster the development of artist’s ideas.
In 1986 Mastro moved to Genoa, to teach Plastic Disciplines and Visual Arts at the “A. Venturi” State Institute of Art; here he focused mainly on his own research work, all the while eschewing exhibitions, competitions, etc.
That same year he settled in Bologna, and after a period devoted almost exclusively to teaching, he returned to his work on sculpture. His creations were more geometric and plastically essential models to be enlarged in travertine. These sculptures are made up of two or more elements similar to those created in Genova, but less thematically defined; a further process of geometric simplification which diluted the sign and symbol into a single abstract form which, perhaps, directly conveys the essence of the symbol and the very sacredness of the geometric order. While working on these models he also started creating drawings of sculptures infused with a intense feeling of lightness. These are ideas, projects for small brass artworks, or for sculptures to be enlarged in stone or bronze.
In 1996 he was appointed teaching professor of Figure and Modelled Art at the “F. Arcangeli” State Art School of Bologna. Over the next two decades his interest in the figurative arts gradually became more theoretical and less practical. More recently he has actively participated in woodwork, ceramics workshops and art foundries, his main focus being drawing as a means to transform ideas, thoughts and impressions.
In fact, it is these drawings that brought to life his collection of brass sculptures created between 1998 and 2004. Their almost shapeless, weightless architecture, is very similar to the lighter and elemental sculptures of the 1980’s, albeit, on a plastic level, the latter are more complex and articulated.
From a formal and expressive point of view, Oronzo,s pieces represent a complete cycle with their very own specific lexicon and stylistic timbre. Some of these stem from visual reflections, others from plastic re-workings of a real or imaginary landscape, others are figurations, notes of a dialogue between the author and his opus. They are sculptures with a story, a tale, and their own particular raison d’être. They are thoughts and emotions that have become images, signs, symbols. All developed into small sculptures.
