Luigi (Lois) Rottonara ROTT was born in La Ila in Badia valley (BZ – Italy) in 1938. He attended the School of Arts in Selva Gardena and completed his studies in Florence at the Magistero d’ Arte -Master School of Arts. He worked as a teacher for over 20 years in schools in the Badia valley, in Milan and in other Institutes in the district of Milan. During these years he developed his artistic activity in painting and sculpture always looking for new forms of modern art and working on different materials. His prolific artistic profile is made of an exceptional number of drawings, paintings, bronzes, ceramics and sculptures made of wood and resins and his polyhedral artistic skills allowed him to express himself through various forms and to become well-known on national and international level. In fact, many of the works of this Ladin artist can be found on international level in Galleries, Institutes of Arts, churches and private and public collections.

ROTT’s art is characterised by the female figure and the horse as preferred subjects, and his unmistakable style is made of the “split” figures, both in sculpture and in painting. The marked split in the figures expresses a realistic representation of one part of the artistic subject, that is of the profile, and an indefinite representation of the other part. Consequently, entirety becomes particularity and vice versa, creating an artistic balance between definite and indefinite, reality and dream, existence and non-existence. The usage of strong colors expresses the concepts of joy, passion and beauty.

EXHIBITIONS

ROTT has made personal and collective exhibitions in some of the biggest cities of Europe –especially in Italy and Germany–, of North- and South America. Among the most relevant exhibitions in the context of RENOWNED INTERNATIONAL ART FESTIVALS:

2017: 57. Biennale d’arte di Venezia in the Palazzo Albrizzi/Guatemala Pavillon. Exhibition Energia creaativa. Tra astrazione e figurazione;  2015: Miami Art Basel, Miami meets Milano in Miami -Biennale Milano; 2016: Festival dei due Mondi, Spoleto Arte, curated by Vittorio Sgarbi ; 1976: International Art Exhibition in Los Angeles (USA) ; 2016: Triennale dell’arte contemporanea di Verona, New York, Washington (USA), D.O.C.  by Paolo Levi; 2012: Artistic Advent–Calendar of BMW; 2014: Biennale of art -ArtExpó Gallery, Principality of Monaco; 2020 and 2021: Art & Cavallo Verona.

Exhibitions in MUSEUMS AND INTERNATIONAL ART INSTITUTIONS:

2013:  MART Rovereto –Dolasila. Suggestioni ladine contemporanee; 1972: Museo La Permanente Milano, LXXII Mostra annuale d’arte della regione lombarda; Museum Foundation L.Matalon Milano, Dolasila; 2018: Istituto Italiano di Cultura in Cracow, Essentia. Tra spazio e tempo; Istituto Italiano di Cultura of Malta, Dolasila; MIIT Museo Internazionale Italia Arte Torino, personal exhibition Arte & Natura, Spirito & Materia; 1974: Galería Trapecio Lima -Perù, personal exhibition; 2020: Messner Mountain Museum Bruneck (BZ), Ester Ladins.

PUBLIC ARTWORKS AND OF SACRED ART

Among the most important artworks the Via Crucis in bronze in the church of  S.Maria Goretti in Milan and in the church of Barbisano (TV), the Monumento Famiglia Nicoli in the cemetery of Parma, the Christus Rex in bronze in the cemetery chapel of La Villa in Badia (BZ) and the stained glass window The baptism of Jesus in the parish church of Corvara in Badia (BZ). In 2007 he carved a “Nativity of Christ” made of wood for Pope Benedict the XVIth.

INSTALLATIONS OF ART AND FASHION

Fashion was always a central theme in ROTT’s art. In 2023 his artworks from the collection Haute Arte Couture by ROTT  were presented in the  Fashionshow ROTT – Art and Music at the Milano Fashion Week. He presented the installation Haute Art Couture by ROTT in the Galleria Vittoria Emanuele in Milan at the Milano Fashion Week 2021. He was protagonist with an installation of paintings and a set of  painted “Art aprons” inspired by the Ladin legends of the Dolomites of many events of the Cultural Olympiad Milano Cortina 2026.

INSTALLATIONS AND MULTIMEDIA PROJECTS

He was artistic consultant of the film Le Rëgn de Fanes – The Reign of Fanes, co-produced by the Italian Television RAI Bolzano and awarded in London and in the U.S.A and started thus the project ROTT –Art and Music together with his daughter, the music artist Susy Rottonara. In 2011 he produced the scenic paintings for the multi-award winning experimental opera Fanes Poem Musical composed by his daughter Susy and in 2013 they produced together the multimedia installation Dolasila dedicated to a famous Ladin legend of the Dolomites presented at the MART Museum in Rovereto, in the Museum-Foundation L.Matalon in Milano and in 2014 in the Italian Cultural Institute in Malta. In 2016 he painted the scenic paintings for the multimedia concert Il sogno di Dolasila – The dream of Dolasila. In 2017 a video installation from Il sogno di Dolasila took part at the international exhibition Energia creativa – tra astrazione e figurazione in the context of the 57. Biennale d’arte di Venezia in the Palazzo Albrizzi, site of the Guatemala Pavillon. The installation Haute Art Couture by ROTT in the Galleria Vittoria Emanuele in Milan was presented at the Milano Fashion Week in September 2021 and was created within the multimedia project Midsummer blooming 2021 ,that got the patronage of the Istituto Nazionale Arte Cultura Spettacolo. In 2023 his artworks from the collection Haute Arte Couture by ROTT  were presented in the  Fashionshow ROTT – Art and Music at the Milan Fashion Week.  Since 2023, he has created art installations dedicated to female figures of the Ladin legends of the Dolomites in Cortina d’Ampezzo. In 2025 he exhibited a set of his painted “Art aprons” at Milan Fashion Week, in Selva Val Gardena, at AEM Foundation in Milan, in Valtellina within th project At the origin of Made in Italy and at Fabbrica EOS Gallery during Milan Fashion Week, all events within The Arts Programme of the Cultural Olympiad Milano Cortina 2026.

ROTT has illustrated many literary works published in Italy and abroad. He was part of the artistic committee at the exhibition panorama & Panorama organized by the Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano in 1987 and was Jury member and Jury President for various art competitions.

MAIN BIBLIOGRAPHY – ART CATALOGUES:

  • Enciclopedia d’Arte Italiana
  • CAM Catalogo dell’arte moderna 2024, 70. edizione – Cairo e Giorgio Mondadori editori
  • Artisti ’22, Annuario internazionale d’arte contemporanea, Mondadori 2022
  • Maestri, curated by Vittorio Sgarbi, 2016;
  • Italiani – Selezione d’arte contemporanea, curated by Vittorio Sgarbi, 2016;
  • Spoleto Arte, 2016
  • Miami meets Milano, 2015
  • Pittori e scultori italiani del Novecento (Italian painters and sculptors of the 20th Century) – Il Quadrato, 2005
  • Pittori e scultori italiani di importanza europea (Italian painters and sculptors of European importance) – Il Quadrato, 1992;
  • Bolaffi –Catalogo della scultura italiana, Nr.5, 1981;
  • LXXII Mostra annuale d’arte della regione lombarda (1972);
  • Art -Now Italian Masters (2020)
  • Itinera – routes of local art in South Tyrol, 1995
  • Percorso ricognitivo nella scultura altoatesina, 1990-1993
  • Artisć Val Badia, EPL, 1996

PERSONAL CATALOGUES:

RIVISTE D’ARTE:

ONLINE ART FAIR