Giovanni Vetere

Giovanni Vetere (1940) was born in Stromboli, a mountain village in the southern Italian region of Calabria. At just five years old, he began working on the land, which not only sparked his love for nature and honed his observational skills but also instilled a strong sense of discipline and willpower. Vetere soon found the strict social hierarchy of his village, shaped by tradition and the church, to be stifling, prompting him to move to Turin in 1957. In 1961, Giovanni moved to Germany on a labor contract and worked in a factory in Bonn. Four years later, he was seriously injured in a car accident. The long months of recovery in the hospital triggered a profound inner transformation. Seeking purpose and meaning in his life, Giovanni focused on improving his German and pursued self-study. In 1971, Giovanni’s daughter, Carmen Clea, was born. This event closely marked the beginning of Giovanni Vetere’s artistic career. A year later, when his wife, Brigitte, gave their daughter a box of watercolor paints, Vetere began painting animals for her. His talent did not go unnoticed, and in 1973, Vetere embarked on his artistic path. At the end of that year, the city of Troisdorf offered Vetere the opportunity to hold his first exhibition. Two years later, the couple opened their own gallery, which for nearly fourteen years has provided an objective platform for other artists and has become an important meeting place. In 1979, Giovanni had another serious accident, leaving him unable to sculpt for an extended period. During this time, he developed his fresco technique, which would evolve into his unmistakable style in the following years. In 1989, the couple purchased "Villa Keysers" in Eitorf, complete with a factory building and a large plot of land that would serve as a sculpture park. Giovanni's disciplined work ethic and boundless creative drive led to the creation of a body of work that is not only vast but also diverse, reflecting constant development. In his search for essence, the human figure in relation to nature and society takes center stage. Nature and its elements are represented by floral forms, small birds, and fish, which appear in simplified shapes like triangles and circles. The directness and vulnerability with which his figures look at us unmask us as spectators, reminding us of what lies beneath the mask of social life. Giovanni Vetere can look back on over thirty years of creative work. In these three decades, he has participated in countless exhibitions across Europe and the United States, achieving great success in the art markets of Basel and Art Cologne.