Tristano di Robilant (b. 1964, London) is an Italian-American artist, currently living and working in Rome and London. He graduated from the University of California at Santa Cruz, where he was particularly impacted by the lectures of the architectural critic and historian Reyner Banham (1922-1988).
Some of the artist’s initial encounters with sculpting were with his godfather, Cy Twombly, from whom he ‘learned how to pour plaster into hollows dug out from the sand, revealing small sand-coated sculptures.’ Over the years, he started experimenting with various materials, including ceramic, bronze, aluminium and Murano glass. Di Robilant is now most recognised for his sculptures in ceramic and glass, but the artist also works in a variety of other media, including drawing, photography and writing.
Di Robilant's sculptures exquisitely balance fragile geometric shapes, colours and their interaction with light. Cones, spheres and other harmonious forms juxtapose and intertwine. Their translucent and irregular surfaces are capable of surprising and mesmerising the viewer. The titles are often inspired by literary and philosophical influences, such as Dante Alighieri, Albert Camus, and Giordano Bruno. Di Robilant's cryptic sculptures in glass refer to intangible landscapes, as fragile as clouds, offering an invitation to oneiric and elegant visions.
Di Robilant has recently had institutional solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, California (2016), the Museum of Palazzo Mocenigo, Venice (2017), Musinf in Senigallia, Italy (2018), and Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, Italy (2023). His work is in private and public collections across Europe and the United States, including the Sol LeWitt Collection in Hartford, Connecticut, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York, the MAXXI Museum in Rome, and the Museo del Vetro in Murano. A large-scale public sculpture was installed at Parco dell’Infanzia (with Louise Bourgeois and Giovanni Rizzoli) in Origgio, Milan, in 2016. In 2020, di Robilant received the Special Recognition Prize by Bonham’s for Venice Glass Week.
Across two solo exhibitions at Tristan Hoare, Tristano di Robilant’s work has been presented in both its formative and mature phases. His first solo show, Youth, in 2019, presented a selection of black-and-white photographs taken during his adolescence, documenting everyday life and reflecting the artistic environment in which he grew up in Italy. In 2023, Poets focused on recent glass and ceramic sculptures made in collaboration with Murano glassblowers and Umbrian ceramicists, highlighting his use of traditional techniques to create large-scale, non-figurative works informed by literature and poetry.
Most recently, di Robilant had an institutional solo exhibition at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Venice (13.09.25 – 24.11.25). Through twelve glass sculptures, di Robilant creates a dialogue with the museum’s architecture and collection, placing each work in conversation with its surroundings.