Velasco Vitali was born in Bellano in 1960, the son of painter Giancarlo, he completed his art studies as a self-taught artist and has been painting since childhood.
At the age of 24, invited by Giovanni Testori, he participated in the exhibition Artists and Writers in Milan, at the Rotonda della Besana.
In the late 1990s he was invited to the Quadriennale in Rome, and in those years he began an artistic journey on the ports of the Mediterranean and southern Italy: “Isolitudine” with Ferdinando Scianna in 2000 and “MIXtura” with Franco Battiato in 2003 were realized.
In 2004 Electa published “Velasco 20,” a monograph on his first 20 years of work with a contribution by Giulio Giorello. “Extramoenia” (2004-2005) is an exhibition commissioned by the Region of Sicily, held in Palermo (Palazzo Belmonte Riso) and Milan (Palazzo della Ragione).
In 2005 he joined the MACRO collection. He realizes, under the curatorship of Danilo Eccher, “Images, Forms and Nature of the Alps” (2007) and “LATO4” (2008). Curated by Fernando Mazzocca and Francesco Poli is “Sbarco” (2010), set up in Piazza Duomo and the Sant’Agostino complex in Pietrasanta and in Milan in Piazza Duca D’Aosta and Palazzo Reale.
In 2011 he is invited to the Italian Pavilion of the Venice Biennale where he exhibits “Veidrodis,” the LKFF Gallery in Brussels hosts his solo exhibition “Branco,” and “Apriti Cielo,” a volume published by Skira that collects watercolors on the theme of the sacred, is published: these include some of the drawings made for the cultural page of “Il Corriere della Sera,” with which he has collaborated since 2007. In 2012 he realize “Foresta Rossa,” an artistic intervention on Isola Madre (Stresa) and in Verbania, curated by Luca Molinari. The reflection on ghost cities already underlying the latter installation continues the following year with the solo painting exhibition “Foresta Rossa: 416 ghost cities in the world” at the Milan Triennale, curated by Luca Molinari and Francesco Clerici. The same year sees the solo sculpture exhibition “Aria,” at the LKFF Gallery in Brussels, the sculpture group installation “Branco,” curated by Flavio Arensi, at the Vittoriale degli Italiani, and the monumental project “Medi Terraneo” at the Ruffo Castle in Scilla.
On April 14, 2014, he exhibited the sculpture “Traditio Symboli” in Milan Cathedral and participated in the 4th Gherdeina Biennale of Sculpture in “Ortisei,” Val Gardena. In February 2015 he is invited to the Berlinale (FIPRESCI prize winner) as producer and protagonist of the documentary “Il Gesto Delle Mani” directed by Francesco Clerici, which portrays him during the execution of a bronze sculpture. In June of the same year, at the invitation of Emilio Mazzoli, he returned to gallery exhibitions, with the show “FUGA” (curated by Mark Gisbourne and Giacinto di Pietrantonio), at Galleria Mazzoli in Modena.
In 2017, he curated and designed (with the collaboration of Peter Greenaway) his father Giancarlo Vitali’s exhibition “Time Out” at Royal Palace of Milan, Sforza Castle, Natural History Museum and Villa Manzoni.
In 2019 is the project “Veduta,” curated by Danilo Eccher, at the M77 Gallery in Milan, in the same year he reproposes the installation “Branco” in the royal court of the Reggia di Venaria in Turin, and in 2020 in collaboration with Arte Sella and the Mart in Rovereto he designs for the museum’s sculpture park and in Castel Ivano (TN) “the monument to resistance.” The work “Sbarco” is featured in two different versions at the new PART museum in Rimini and at the Mole Vanvitelliana in Ancona.
