27.06 – 30.09.2023 · Pananti Atelier, Milan
The exhibition “DATI DI FATTO” brings together the work of two Italian artists, Gianfranco Ferroni and Stefano Perrone, who, although separated by a generational gap, find themselves engaged in a contemporary dialogue. The artworks seem to communicate with each other through a game of cross-references, absences and tangible presences that tell us about two different eras. However they both respond with the same urgency to the frenzy of consumption, portraying time, space, light, and the emotions that traverse these apparently mundane scenes.
Linked from 1956 onwards to the so-called Existential Realism movement, Ferroni went through various phases: from an anti-graceful expressionist phase in his early days, to political commitment and disillusionment after the 1968, to arrive at the tangible loneliness of his artist-ascetic period. In his works, the feeling of expectation is palpable. Ferroni is waiting for a sudden apparition, which would fill those empty rooms he keeps painting, engraving and photographing.
Established in 2021, the Gianfranco Ferroni Archive has as one of its goals the dialogue with emerging artists committed to visual research. The work of Ferroni in this case stands as a point of reflection for Perrone’s research, who for the occasion has elaborated new artworks directly inspired by Ferroni’s work.
Undoubtedly, the red thread between Gianfranco Ferroni and Stefano Perrone is undoubtedly the sign. For Ferroni, it is fundamental in his engravings and in his late works. While for Perrone the sign is a vector line, not only in its graphic meaning but also as an emotional element.