Roman de Salvo

Roman de Salvo

Visiting Faculty and Mentor

Summary

Roman de Salvo is a sculptor known for elaborate electrical conduit mazes, spliced tree branch puzzles and a San Diego public art legacy of mazes, riddles, inventive garden follies and epic gateways. As an artist-explorer of the outdoors, de Salvo also produces low-budget conceptual deeds for photography in western scenic spaces.

De Salvo’s work has been featured in the 2000 Biennial Exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the 2002 California Biennial at the Orange County Museum of Art, American Idyll for the Public Art Fund in New York, Baja to Vancouver: The West Coast in Contemporary Art at the Seattle Art Museum, Insite 2000 in Tijuana, Mexico, and Giverny Garden Projects at the Musée d'Art Américain, Giverny, France. In 2026, a 35-year survey of his work with lightbulbs was mounted by Quint Gallery, La Jolla, the gallery that has represented de Salvo’s work since 1995.

Courses taught

  • High Desert Installation and Mentor

Teaching history

  • 2016 - 2022, Visiting Faculty, Sierra Nevada College, Low Residency MFA Interdisciplinary Arts, Incline Village, Nev.
  • 2002 - 2005, Lecturer, San Diego State University
  • 1999 - 2003, Visiting Artist & Adjunct Professor, Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, California
  • 1996 - 1999, Lecturer, University of California, San Diego

Selected solo exhibitions

  • 2019, McCairn, Murals of La Jolla
  • 2019, Electric Picnic, Timken Museum of Art, San Diego
  • 2016, Elements & Filaments, Lux Art Institute, Encinitas, California
  • 2016, Cabin, Streamline Mobile Gallery, Sierra Nevada College, Incline Village, Nevada.
  • 2015, Lightening, Quint Gallery, La Jolla, California.
  • 2009, Split, Splice, Splay, Display, Quint Contemporary Art, La Jolla, California.
  • 2008, "Group Show," Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, La Jolla, California.
  • 2005, High Wire Acts, the Holter Museum of Art, Helena, Montana.
  • 2005, Main Street Sculpture Project, the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut.
  • 2004, Power Maze 3, Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, Nevada.
  • 2004, Recent Work with Electrical Conduit, Quint Contemporary Art, La Jolla, California.
  • 2001, Woods, Quint Contemporary Art, La Jolla, California.
  • 2000, Hearth Furnishings, Tahoe Gallery, Sierra Nevada College, Incline, Nevada.
  • 1998, Garden Guardians, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
  • 1997, Cactus Arcade, Founder's Gallery, University of San Diego.
  • 1996, Southwestern College Art Gallery, Chula Vista, California.
  • 1995, Furnishings, Quint Contemporary Art, La Jolla, California.

Selected public commissions

  • 2020, Fountain Mountain, Mission Trails Regional Park, City of San Diego.
  • 2019, Beach Castles, South Mission Beach Lifeguard Station, City of San Diego.
  • 2019, The Chollas Realm, Chollas Creek Linear Park, Jacobs Center for Neighborhood Innovation, San Diego.
  • 2012, The Riparium, Ruocco Park, San Diego Unified Port District.
  • 2012, Grape Maze, California Center for the Arts Escondido, City of Escondido.
  • 2010, Seven for Seven Trees, Seven Trees Community Center and Branch Library, City of San Jose.
  • 2006, Utility Filigree, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
  • 2006, Nexus Eucalyptus, California Department of Transportation District 11 Headquarters, San Diego, State of California.
  • 2005, Alvarado Riddle, Alvarado Medical Center Station, San Diego Trolley, Metropolitan Transit Development Board.
  • 2003, Crab Carillon, 25th Street Corridor, City of San Diego.

Selected group exhibitions

  • 2015, Eureka!, New Children’s Museum, San Diego.
  • 2009, Animal Art, New Children's Museum, San Diego.
  • 2008, Childsplay, New Children’s Museum, San Diego.
  • 2007, Sancta, Steve Turner Contemporary, Beverly Hills, California.
  • 2003, American Idyll, Public Art Fund, New York. Catalog.
  • 2003, Baja to Vancouver: The West Coast in Contemporary Art, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle. Traveled. Catalog.
  • 2002, 2002 California Biennial, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California. Catalog.
  • 2002, I-5 Resurfacing: Four Decades of California Contemporary Art, San Diego Museum of Art.
  • 2001, Lateral Thinking: Art of the 1990s, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Traveled. Catalog.
  • 2001, Chain Reaction: Rube Goldberg and Contemporary Art, Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts. Traveled. Catalog.
  • 2001, Double Vision: Photographs from the Strauss Collection, University Art Museum, California State University, Long Beach. Traveled. Catalog.
  • 2000, inSITE2000, Tijuana, Mexico. Catalog.
  • 2000, Giverny Garden Projects, Musée d'Art Américain, Giverny, France.
  • 2000, 2000 Biennial Exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. Catalog.
  • 1999, Drip, Blow, Burn: Forces of Nature in Contemporary Art, The Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, New York. Catalog.
  • 1996, 96 Containers--Art Across Oceans, Copenhagen, Denmark. Catalog.
  • 1995, Common Ground, a Regional Exhibition, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego.
  • 1994, inSITE'94, San Diego Natural History Museum, San Diego. Catalog.

Education

  • MFA, Visual Arts, University of California San Diego, 1995
  • BFA, Sculpture, California College of Arts & Crafts, 1990