Art in the historic town

Ten years after his solo exhibition at the Klausen City Museum, Eric Perathoner returns with the open-air project “Art in the Historic Center”, offering a comprehensive overview of his artistic work across 33 locations throughout the historic center of Klausen.

His art is rooted in the new evolution of the Val Gardena sculptural tradition, which forges its own original path between innovation and time-honored craftsmanship. In his studio near the Pass Panider Sattel, Perathoner shapes sculptures from linden, Swiss pine, and chestnut wood with technical skill, discipline, and masterful precision. He also experiments with a range of materials including plaster bandages, larch needles, acrylic paints, iron, and tar.

To express his poetic sensibility, Perathoner employs a language that is both precise and pared down. His focus on the human figure goes beyond the physical form - his stylized figures result from a formal investigation that deliberately eliminates all that is superfluous. His artistic language is defined by simplicity and clarity.

Perathoner creates works of great formal elegance, often evoking associations with Egyptian and pre-Renaissance art. His sculptures are an ode to silence—they invite the viewer to pause and listen inwardly. The figures gaze “into the distance,” pointing the way toward the unknown and hinting at the extraordinary aspects of life. The artist gently leads viewers into reflection and into a stillness where the pulse of life becomes tangible.