Cristian Gallego Selles, Prix Domenico Orsi at La Saint-Ours 2024, in his laboratory in Fénis
Artisans in Valle d’Aosta, Cristian Gallego Selles: «I put myself to the test and look for lightness».
Gazzetta Matin began a journey to get to know the artisans awarded on the occasion of the 1024th Sant’Orso Fair.
Nadia Camposaragna takes care of the tour in the workshops of the artisans who distinguished themselves in this edition of the Millenary.
Cristian Gallego Selles with his sculpture Timeless Love
After knowing Marcel DiemozPrix Don Garino; Aldo BollonPrix Jans with the vannerie course of Saint-Marcel; Michael MunariPrix Enfanthéâtre; Louis MarquisPrix Berton; Ornella Crétazdouble prize at La Saint-Ours 2024: Prix Savt-Foire de Saint-Ours awarded by Savt to the most original or innovative work or stand in the traditional craft sector and which best illustrates the world of work and Prix Fidapa awarded by the Italian Federation of Women, Arts, Professions and Business to the exhibitor who has created the most creative and artistic work, Angelo Giuseppe Bettoni‘Pine’ for all, Prix Noces d’or avec la Foire; Sebastian Yon which was awarded the most coveted Prix, the Prix La Saint-Ours 2024, we know Cristian Gallego SellesPrix Domenico Orsi, awarded to the sculptor who represented the concept of gift.
The Prix Domenico Orsi, tribute to the gift
Cristian Gallego Selles won the Prix Domenico Orsi for walnut sculpture Timeless loveor, in which he represented the ageless love that survives the inexorable passage of time, the gift of two people in dedicating themselves to each other.
The gift of love of a life together
Vincent Van Gogh by Cristian Gallego Selles
Cristian was very keen on this “Prix Domenico Orsi” won last January…
«I wanted it, I hoped for it and I’m really happy to have received it. A work in which I tried to illustrate all the tenderness of an elderly couple to evoke the gift of love of a life together, surrounded by details that sharpen the meaning: the life stages of a rose and a heart close to a liquefied clock that recalls the surreal ones of the Catalan artist Salvador Dalì”.
A bit of the Valley and a bit of Catalonia
A bit of Catalonia in the sculpture and a bit of Catalonia in her too…
“Yes. My Dad Anthony he was originally from Sóller (Majorca) and had moved to Valle d’Aosta after meeting my mother Silvanaborn in Saint-Marcel, who was in Switzerland working like him.”
Born in Aosta, Cristian Gallego Selles he lives in Fénis where he has created his laboratory in a small room.
After the hotelier, then still in Porossan, Cristian worked as a waiter for a few years, as a paratrooper in the Folgore in Pisa and Livorno and then as a bus driver for about twenty years before arriving at his current position in 2009. employment as an emergency driver at 118.
Cristian with his wife Nora and daughter Lisa
Married with Norahe has a daughter, Lisa.
Both always help him for the Sant’Orso Fair. «Lisa gets up early and since she was little she has come to the bench setting it up with me and also giving me advice on the subjects to sculpt.
Nora, on the other hand, who is good at translating what I sculpt into words, writes texts to accompany the works that I also present at the Prix”.
The interest in sculpture began a bit by chance
But when was your interest in sculpture born?
«Given that in the 1980s my father tried to dabble in sculpture in courses Franco Crestani in Saint-Marcel, my interest was born somewhat by chance in 1995 when I also attended the same course and began to exhibit at the Sant’Orso Fair.
In 2006/2007 I went to Bottega Scuola da Dario Berlierlearning to finish the works, even if I often prefer to leave parts where the marks of the chisels can be seen, many of which are still the ones my father used”.
Cristian Gallego Selles he has received various awards over time, including the Prix Pierre Vietti in 2014 with a bas-relief depicting a scene of rural life and mentions of Prix Domenico Orsi: in 2018 with an intimate and personal work dedicated to his sister and in 2023 with Memory postcard in which she depicted an oral memory of her grandmother from when she was a child in 1923.
Test yourself and seek lightness
What relationship did you establish with sculpture?
Cristian Gallego Selles at his desk, at La Saint-Ours 2024
Cristian Gallego Selles’ squad
«Looking at the sculptures made in the past, I think that the current ones have more lightness; an aspect that I have always aimed for and want to strive for even more.
Sculpting is always putting myself to the test, always trying to improve myself; identifying imperfections or small errors, highlighted by changes in daylight perhaps right at the Fair, which I can and try to remedy.
During the year I think about the works that I then start sculpting a few months before the Fair.
For bas-reliefs or in the round I prefer to carve walnut, whereas pine and linden for smaller subjects, such as my gnomes in the round or those I created as a “shelf”, with the full beard protruding from the surface on which to place them, colored in acrylic in some parts”.
What is most challenging and/or easiest for you to accomplish?
«It is challenging to create the various depths and find a compositional balance, while the faces are easier, but when I manage to start well – he says smiling -, always starting from the nose».
The Sant’Orso Fair grows in quality
A work inspired by the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh
How has the Fair changed since it began exhibiting there in 1995?
«Except for twice at Donnas, I have only ever exhibited at the Sant’Orso Fair in Aosta at the end of January, at counter no. 60 in via Sant’Anselmo.
As an exhibitor, especially for about ten years, I see it improving in quality, also thanks to investing in craftsmanship with courses and school workshops. For me, however, the Fair has always been about meeting and sharing, two days that I dedicate to myself, completely.”
What would you like or would like to sculpt in the future?
«More than sculptures, I am inspired by the works of painters such as Vincent van Gogh, also depicted among my shelf gnomes, of whom I have interpreted various paintings in bas-reliefs including Sower at sunset.
In the future I would also like to do it with other famous painters that I already have in mind. In the meantime I’m thinking about the subject for the next Millenaria to be presented again at Prix Domenico Orsibecause the theme of “gifts” is particularly dear to me.”
Family, work, sculpture and…?
«I like to take care of the fruit trees we have for personal consumption and, when possible, go on holiday with them Nora And Lisa from Catalan relatives.”
(nadia camposaragna)
