Christian Stl

Biography

Christian Holzknecht was born 7 June 1970. He works in Ortisei, Italy, where he also lives with his family. Coming from a major painter family, he began his apprenticeship in this field quite early in his life. He was taught by his father, his mother and his older brother. After successfully passing his exam, Christian took several courses and received further education in various painting techniques; additionally, his numerous travels and artistic trips formed an open worldview.The first destinations included Cologne, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Barcelona, Madrid and Lisbon, while later on he ventured as far as London, Budapest, New York, Saint Petersburg, Malaysia, Israel, Jordan and Egypt. In every major city he visited exhibitions and confronted himself with local and international art, he moreover studied specific materials relevant to his job; in Malaysia, for instance, the artist spontaneously created an eight-meter long turtle-shaped sand form. To this day, he still enjoys Land-art and uses earth pigments and connection parts for his art. Christian's artistic education path included two study periods in Florence as well. In 1991 he moved to the city for the first time, enrolling in the private school "ART E...".This is where he met Luzy Jochamowitz, an internationally acclaimed artist, and his future teacher. Back then, she was attending Venice's Biennale. In said school, he absolved courses in the use of watercolors, tempe- ra and oil colors, as well as in depicting still life and acts. In 1996 he then attended the international graphics school "Il Bisonte". World-famous artists like Karl Plattner, Renato Guttuso, Giaco- mo Manzù, Henry Moore, Sebastian E. Matta and Pablo Picasso could often be seen at that school, refining their copper engraving skills. Christian's teachers in this faculty were Swietlan Kraczyna, Narumi Harashina, Manuel Ortega and Rodolfo Ceccotti. During and after his studies, Christian Stl painted several portraits and panels, at first for himself, later for others. He has painted numerous murals, created figures of stone and even shaped snow sculptures in collaboration with Aron Demez and Eric Peratho- ner. He temporary worked and painted in Rosenheim,Turin, Rome and Vieste (Gargano). In 1992 the artist inaugurated his first exhibition in Sesto Fiorentino. He also exhibited his works in Bolzano and in the Center for Arts and Culture in Ortisei, where he was active as main promoter for several years as well. He repeatedly exposed his work here in the following years, mainly in 1996 together with Armin Grunt and Lorenz Demetz and in 1999 he also had a solo exhibition.The Art Café, the sheltered workshop "Surëdl" in Ortisei, and the town of Caldaro have also hosted solo exhibitions of his artworks over the years; in 2010 and 2011 he exposed in Merano with Gerald Moroder. The most important locations for his collective exhibitions were surely the "Trostburg" in 2006, the Giardini della Somiglianza "Arquà Petrarca" in 2011, the "Kurburg Schluderns" in 2012, the Algund Gallery in 2011, the Palazzo Trentini at the Film Festival in Trento in 2011, the Art Innsbruck from 2010 to 2012, the Gallerie Armentarola from 2010 to 2013, Artgallerie Lilie in Vipiteno in 2013, the Fiera di Milano in 2013, and finally the most important exhibition in his home valley,Val Gardena: the UNIKA, from 2010 to 2013. One of his most renowned creations is the picture Christian painted for Tour de Swiss winner Frank Schleck in 2010.Also quite famous are his painting in honor of the extraordinary results of Carolina Kostner, Europe and World Champion in figure skating, and the graphic depiction of an etiquette concerning dessert wines, created for the Laimburg winery; this very wine with its artwork was internationally awarded a triple Gold Medal.