Roberto Ferri, considered the "modern Caravaggio", lands in Barcelona
Considered the "Modern Caravaggio", the Italian painter Roberto Ferri lands for the first time in Spain with an exhibition of forty works, highly influenced by the Baroque and with surrealist touches, at the European Museum of Modern Art (MEAM) in Barcelona.
The artist, from whom the Vatican commissioned two portraits of Pope Francis, recalled, in an interview with Efe, that it all began when, when he was very young, he was fascinated by the illustrations that were in his grandfather's encyclopedia of some of the works by Caravaggio.
Born in 1978 in the town of Taranto, in southern Italy, he was self-taught in the beginning, until in 1999 he moved to Rome to deepen his research on ancient painting, from the beginning of the 16th century to the end of the 19th century. , although today he has asserted that another of his influences is Salvador Dalí.
He also has not ignored that he has marked the painting of Romanticism, Academicism, especially David, Ingres or Girodet, and Symbolism.
In his studio on the outskirts of Rome, he uses traditional pigments and continues with the old techniques of creating colors as in the Baroque, being able to dedicate more than five years to the creation of his works, such as a "San Giovanni", which is exhibited in Barcelona and for which he was inspired by the paintings of the Sistine Chapel.
At the MEAM and until next October 3, a total of 46 works are exhibited, of which thirty are paintings and there are sixteen drawings, where the main characters, mostly, are heroic characters, some in full redemption, although angels also appear- vampires as symbols of impurity.
The artist explores the female and male nude with "dreamlike elements that address dreams, the profane, spirituality and mythology."
Ferri comments that one of his great canvases, "Resurrezione", finished it just before the coronavirus pandemic was declared. "But - he adds -, it could seem the opposite because with the work I represent the man in fight with the demons of his, at the same time I want to give him courage, something that we have needed a lot in recent times".
In addition to the human figure with perfect anatomy, the public who come to the MEAM will be able to discover that in these pictorial pieces there are other elements such as the olive trunks - very characteristic of their native land - as well as utensils and tools that refer to surgical instruments from ago a few centuries.
With work in private collections in Italy, Great Britain, the United States, Spain or Qatar, his work could also be seen in the controversial Italian pavilion at the 2011 Venice Biennale.
In addition, he has recounted how he made the two portraits that hang on the walls of the Vatican of Pope Francis.
Roberto Ferri pointed out, amused, that when the works were commissioned he asked to have the pontiff as a model, but they replied that that would not be possible and that he should capture the portraits of him from photographs.
On the one hand, he made a painting in which the Pope appears in full length and he made another that is a bust, which is on one wall of one of the rooms where meetings between Francis and the cardinals are held. "The painting is right above the chair occupied by the Pope, who liked both works," he specified.
Asked about the future, Ferri said that, as with all painters, it will "evolve" and adds: "But I will continue with this same style, because it is the one that represents and identifies me, with which I express myself best. I will not dedicate myself to the abstract. "
Regarding being considered the "Caravaggio of the XXI century", he has recognized that his point of reference is the Lombard, but has pointed out that it is not he who defines himself in these terms, "in any case - he jokes - it would be like a Caravaggio 2.0 ".
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