Mark Di Suvero

b. Shanghai, China, 18 September 1933. Lives and works in Petaluma, CA, USA

Born in China to Italian parents, Mark di Suvero and his family settled in California in the early 1940s. In 1957, after studying art and philosophy at the University of California at Berkeley, di Suvero moved to New York and created his first sculptures from recycled materials. From 1966 these works gave way to monumental installations made out of coloured steel beams assembled into almost architectural constructions. Over the years his formal vocabulary widened to include circular forms, sharp angles, etc. The artist's small-scale sculptures are often complexly designed pieces exploring notions of balance and movement.

Mark di Suvero made a name for himself in the public domain in 1975 when his work was exhibited at the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris " a first for a living artist ". In the same year the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York held a major retrospective of his work. His pieces can be found in many museum collections, including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, the MoMA in New York, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.