https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/denverpost/name/mario-rivoli-obituary?id=10339401
(with photo)

Mario Rivoli, prominent Denver artist and antiques dealer extraordinaire passed away on May 17 of complications from a stroke suffered over a year ago.. He was 78 years old.

Mario was born in New York City in 1943. Upon graduation from the High School of Industrial Arts he took a job with a real estate company drafting images of apartment layouts. A talented but uninterested draftsman, Mario quit after a week, and spent the next 60 years supporting himself as an artist and dealer in antiques and jewelry.

While still living in New York in the 1970s, Mario received several commissions to paint murals in Denver, and these trips eventually led to his relocation there.

Despite his skill as a painter and draftsman, Mario's favored medium was assemblage. He collected buttons, game pieces, and every other kind of small object and liberally worked them into the lavish decoration of anything - from furniture to clothing to jewelry.

He showed his elaborate pieces in galleries across the country, including Julie's Artisan's Gallery in New York City, Pismo Gallery in Denver, as well as Lewis Bobrick Antiques in Denver. For years Mario participated in the World Wide Antique Show in Denver as well as other national antique shows. He also operated his own antique shop, Finders Keepers, in Denver, where he would sell his artwork along with antiques.

Mario also revived the home-craft of beaded flower making, and took the art form to a new level of creativity and excellence in the past twenty years.

Mario's work is in many public and private collections. Most recently (2019-2020) some of his clothing pieces were featured in "Off the Wall: American Art to Wear" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

With little immediate biological family, Mario maintained a large chosen family to whom he showed great warmth and generosity and regaled with colorful stories and occasionally tasteful jokes. He loved trips to antique shows and flea markets as much as he loved sharing meals at restaurants. In fact, Mario's favorite kind of day was spent in the car with a friend - who had a car - stopping at shops or flea markets, and then gathering a boisterous group around a big table to enjoy sushi or Chinese food. His bright spirit will be missed.

Published by Denver Post on Jun. 6, 2021.

https://mariorivoli.art/
(his site)

https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/craft-in-america/clip/julie-schafler-dale-mario-rivoli-5gdj4r
(slideshow - 1:57 minutes)

https://edpollackfinearts.com/drawings-the-sixties-14112
(a dozen drawings)

https://www.pinterest.com/beadsnsuch/mario-rivoli/
(beaded flowers)

https://archives.lib.umn.edu/repositories/4/resources/3817

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&sca_esv=577006998&q=mario+rivoli+books&tbm=isch&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjwm72f-pSCAxXvEVkFHWnfDMgQ0pQJegQICxAB&biw=1284&bih=813&dpr=1
(a few book covers)

Some titles:

A Song For Clowns by Barbara Wersba, 1965
"A delightful tale of a good king who turns bad because of grief, and of a group of minstrels who can heal the country. "

Do Tigers Ever Bite Kings? by Barbara Wersba, 1966
"Wonderful wood cuts illustrate this rollicking rhyme about a gentle king, his rather nasty queen, and a tiger who shares the king's sentiments about unnecessary posturing."

Best Foot Forward aka Step-Ball-Change by Louise B Young, 1968
"A young caterpillar, who has trouble walking because she can not put her best foot forward, finds the owl was right when he said time would take care of everything in a very natural way."