Di Mauro’s work has risen to national prominence through achievements such as sculpture prizes, residencies, grants and exhibitions in addition to the realization of a number of major public art commissions during the last fifteen years.
Sebastian Di Mauro was born in Innisfail, Australia in 1955 and he currently lives and works in Wilmington, Delaware. He has a PhD from Griffith University and was an Associate Professor until he retired in 2016. At Griffith University he taught sculpture in the Fine Art Program.
Since the late 1980s he has held over 45 solo exhibitions and his work has been included in excess of 100 group exhibitions in Australia and overseas. His paintings, sculptures, artist books and installations are collected by many of Australia’s key art institutions, including: the Queensland Art Gallery I Gallery of Modern Art, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, Bendigo Art Gallery, Besen Collection, Artbank, University of Queensland Art Museum and Deakin University.
Recognised in 2004 as one of Australia’s sculptors to watch in terms of investment, his work has been celebrated in two monographs, Between Material (1998) and Footnotes of a Verdurous Tale (2009). Di Mauro’s work has risen to national prominence through a number of achievements namely: an Australia Council ‘New Work’ grant in 1999; winning the Inaugural Woollahra Sculpture Prize; inclusion in the National Sculpture Prize and Exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia in 2001; awarded residencies with Parks Victoria,
Melbourne and later the British School, Rome in 2002; being judged a finalist in The McClelland Survey and Award in 2003; winning the Montalto Sculpture Prize (Mornington Peninsular, Victoria); selection for the Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award and Exhibition in 2003, 2005 and 2008; awarded the Australia Council’s Barcelona Studio in 2009; and more recently a survey exhibition of his work mounted at Queensland University of Technology Art Museum in 2009.
During the last 15 years Di Mauro has also completed a number of major public art commissions in high profile buildings including: Chat at 175 Eagle Street, Brisbane (2002); Drift for 33 Charlotte Street, Brisbane during the Year of the Built Environment (2004); and Blur between for the Brisbane Magistrates Court (2004). He has collaborated with innovative architects such as Alice Hampson on several public art projects including Undulant at the Logan Community Health Centre (2005) and Greener Fields in the Gabba Members Area (Gabba Cricket Ground). In Adelaide Di Mauro completed a commission in 2006 for Taylor, Cullity and Lethlean Landscape Architects and in 2011 he installed an ephemeral public artwork for the Adelaide City Council. He has an international reputation as a public artist. In 2011 Di Mauro’s Drifter was commissioned in Ningbo and Rapture for Suzhou 2013, China. He continues to develop public art projects for China and Australia.