Christian de Vietri
Image source UAP
Christian de Vietri (born 14 July 1981) is an Australian artist known for his large-scale public sculptures and traditional artwork based in Śilpaśāstra. In 2024, he published Trika Maṇḍala Prakāśa, the first comprehensive exposition of the mandalas described in Abhinavagupta’s Tantrāloka.
In 2001, De Vietri completed a Bachelor of Fine Art degree at Curtin University. He was included annually on the Vice Chancellor's list as an academic commendation during his undergraduate years. As part of his training he then studied online for a graduate diploma from an Art College in Marseilles. De Vietri undertook and graduated from the Columbia University Master of Fine Art program in 2009. As part of this program, he was mentored by the artist Liam Gillick.
De Vietri studied Kashmir Śaivism under the tutelage of Christopher H. Wallis, Mark S. G. Dyczkowski, and Paul Muller-Ortega. He learnt Haṭha Yoga of the Mahāsiddha tradition from Dharmabodhi Sarasvatī and was certified by him as a teacher in 2016.
Prominent public commissions by de Vietri include:
Destination Day, Forrest Place, Perth Australia, 2005 (Commissioned by the City of Perth)
X, Socrates Sculpture Park, New York USA, 2009 (commissioned by Socrates Sculpture Park)
The Gathering, Metrotech, New York USA, 2009 (commissioned by the Public Art Fund)
Ascalon (with Marcus Canning), St Georges Cathedral, Perth Australia, 2011 (commissioned by Mark Creasy)
Spanda, Elizabeth Quay, Perth Australia, 2016 (commissioned by the MRA)
Karlkurla, Kalgoorlie Australia, 2023 (commissioned by the City of Kalgoorlie)
Between Heaven and Earth, Zhengzhou Grand Emporium, Zhengzhou China, 2018 (commissioned by ZhengHong Property)
Several awards and grants have been bestowed upon de Vietri for his work as an artist. At age 23, he was included in Australia's National Sculpture Prize exhibition . In 2003 he was recognised in Western Australia for a Citizen of the Year Award for his local contribution to Visual Art. He also received funding to make new work awarded by the Australia Council in 2009.
Other funding the artist has attracted includes the Socrates Sculpture Park Fellowship 2009 to pay for the manufacture of a sculpture to be displayed on Long Island, USA; publication within Art & Australia Magazine's Emerging Artist feature page in 2006, Peoples Choice Award for the National Gallery of Australia National Sculpture Prize 2005, Arts Western Australia New Concepts Grant 2005, Australia Council New Work Grant 2005, Qantas Spirit of Youth Fine Art Award 2004, Nescafe Big Break Art Award 2004 for a small business start-up.
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