Carlo Ferraris is an Italian born artist, who now lives and works in New York. At the beginning of his career as an artist, Ferraris was a sculptor who worked mostly with the manipulation of sheet iron and found objects. As he developed as an artist, he then began working with photography and video. At this time, Ferraris is attempting to more fully exploit the idioms with which he is most familiar. Actually, this shift indicates Ferraris' tendency away from the manipulation and processing of concrete material to more abstract material such as language, concepts and cognition. Ferraris' photographic and video works show a tendency toward simple childlike playfulness, although these works also give rise to the awareness that they contain a deep and lasting message.

His work titled Allegheny, Stick to the Sky (2003), a video with a duration of 10:10 minutes, presents an unusual depiction of an ordinary, everyday event. Three elderly men are sitting around a table. If they were simply playing cards, this would be just another depiction of a routine activity for killing time. However, Ferraris changes this situation into one of "foreign routine". It is as if the three people have placed objects on the table, but not cards. Although the objects are fairly ordinary, everyday things like bottles of beverages, canned goods, nails, compact disks, film, or bananas, for example, they seem to have taken on rather odd functions. Even though it is difficult to grasp any specific connection of meaning among the objects, all of them are all related in that they are all similarly affected by the heaviness inflicted by gravity. His work, Michigan Parallel (2001), a video with a duration of 10:40 minutes, depicts a parody of an action film scenario that tells the story of a person with the strength of Superman. Appropriate to a fragment of a thriller film, Ferraris creates a number of tense and violence scenes motivated by revenge; there is also a segment displaying the awesome abilities of the "superman". Ferraris' message is clear, and is slipped in between the shifting scenes and images that change so swiftly: "...but, to become famous is dangerous... ".

This two short films by Ferraris depict paradoxical situations that are comical, originating out of a kind of neighborhood atmosphere. The ordinary people in his films seem to be involved in carrying out very important activities. It is as if Ferraris wishes to point out the occurrence of something out of the ordinary, when actually the routine and the situation are as ordinary as can be. In this, Ferraris plays with oppositional logic in order to achieve an unexpected effect. Actually, he is in the midst of pointing out the hope that some value can be given, as it should be, to even the most boring of situations.

Rizki A. Zaelani

Born on 1960 in Romagnano Sesia, Italy.
Studied at Accademia delle Belle Arti of Brera, Milan (1989).

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1998 Galleria Valeria Belvedere, Milan; Esso Gallery, New York.
1999 C.A. OTKRbITKA Gallery, Moscow.
2001 Esso Gallery, New York.
2003 Corinne Caminade, Paris; Florence Lynch Gallery, New York.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1998 The Planet Art, Cape Town, South Africa; "Esso Gallery Presents..." Pastec, New York.
1999 "Recent Videos", London, England.
2000 "Yard Sale", Downtown Arts Festival, New York.
2001 "E/Motion Studies", Queens Museum, New York.
2001-2002 "Les Jeux Sont Fait," Esso Gallery, New York.
2002 Art Forum Berlin, (Florence Lynch Gallery, NY) Berlin.
2003 "Tasty Buds", The Workspace, New York; The Armory Show, (Florence Lynch Gallery) New York.

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