Mario Merola entered the École des beaux-arts de Montréal at the age of fifteen in 1946. In 1951, while still a student, he received First Prize in a contest to create a mural inspired by the history of Montreal at the Hôtel de Lasalle. From 1952 to 1953, he attended the École supérieure des arts décoratifs in Paris on a scholarship from the French Government. After designing costumes for television at Société Radio-Canada (CBC) (1954-1957), he became a visual arts professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal (1969-1992). Merola’s awards and distinctions, as well as his impressive list of works, speak to the extent of his artistic production – particularly his murals integrated into architecture. In 1958, he won a competition to produce a mural for the Canadian Pavilion at the Universal Exposition in Brussels. Over the past few years, he has once more taken up sculpture in the round, producing colourful small-format pieces.
SEE:
« Symposium de Nagyatàd » by Mario Merola, ESPACE, vol. 6, #3, p. 42.
« Mario Merola, ou l’oeil en joie » by Fernand Ouellette, ESPACE #67, p. 36.
« Moving Riopelle’s Sculpture-Fountain La Joute, a Provincewide Debate on Public Art » by Danielle Doucet, ESPACE #64, p. 24.
