About

I am Luca Zuliani, a sculptor, born in 1988 in San Giorgio delle Pertiche, in the province of Padua, where I live and work.

Since childhood I have had a deep inclination for solitude and reflection. At parent–teacher meetings, my father would defend me by saying I was “the lone rider”.

I came to sculpture at 14, almost as a game, when my father bought me my first chisels. When choosing high school I was uncertain: I struggled to think of art as a job. They steered me toward an art school and, as soon as I crossed the threshold of the Istituto Pietro Selvatico, I understood. It was my first formal approach to sculpture, with solid technical foundations and a deep passion. There I learned to master space, light and proportions, and I laid the foundations of a personal language thanks to great masters of wood, clay and marble, among them Sergio Rodella, my teacher.

I then tried the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, but attended it for less than a year: my doubts about art as a trade continued and the idea of the penniless artist frightened me. I left school and looked for work, without finding much. For a few years I took part in sculpture competitions as a member of an association of sculptors from the Padua area, where I learned a great deal. But I wanted personal independence, and I found a place, somewhere I would never have imagined, as a healthcare assistant in a cooperative for people with disabilities. I stayed there from 2010 to 2020. Perhaps my sensitivity had led me there.

In those years I never stopped sculpting, but with a thousand questions about why I really wanted to. Then I understood that sculpting was stronger than me, and that not doing it made me suffer: for me sculpture is a need. I followed many personal growth courses and understood that my works spoke of me. I began to sculpt differently, bringing my own experience into the works: it was my first artistic maturation. I turned my sensitivity, which I believed to be a curse, into my strength.

At first I had an academic way of thinking, too tied to the rules. The cost and availability of materials forced me to experiment and make do: that is how I broke out of the mold and matured, technically and artistically. With self-directed study of anatomy, symbolism, psychology and philosophy I enriched my baggage and developed the ability to interpret the deepest emotions.

Today I use sculpture as a message to meet kindred people, to talk with and to help in transforming and decompressing an emotion into matter. Competitions and exhibitions have been important stages, because they let me compare myself with other artists, but what moves me is the need to communicate and to share my visions.