30.5 x 15.2 x 7.6 cm
We are pleased to announce Joe Ferriso’s solo exhibition with the gallery. Lost & Found brings together work made over the past three years. Ferriso primarily creates small wall pieces that are sculptural paintings/painted sculptures. However In Lost & Found functional chairs and lamps coexist with the other work, eschewing the divide between craft and art. Ferriso pulls from the Bauhaus ethos, elevating craft, using sensitive color choices, and a minimalist aesthetic.
We have also included some newer works that weave in landscapes, an outgrowth of being ensconced in the wilderness of California, specifically Sea Ranch. Presenting these works together gives us a portrait of Ferriso as he draws inspiration from his surrounding both in terms of scavenged materials but also from observation.
Artist Statement for Lost & Found
Lost & Found is where things wash ashore. Some are precious, some purposely discarded, all full of backstory. I see everything as a potential medium for expression, and the analogy of searching and finding feels like an apt parallel for my art-making. Wood and paint are materials people surround themselves with. We run to them for comfort and run from them for change. The leftovers of construction are plentiful. Making speculative architectural patterns with them feels celebratory to me.
Driftwood, too, is inherently a castaway. Its original form is often streamlined, reduced, made stronger and smoother. I see the found elements of driftwood and construction waste as related. These fragments of growth and labor are shaped in part by chance, place, and circumstance. In responding to their shape, color, and texture, I seek the placement that reorients the material.
The artworks assembled here grew out of family outings to the beach, solo walks past construction sites, and conversations with neighbors and friends about things they need to get rid of. The backstory matters deeply to me. Where do things come from, and why do we hold onto them? Each time I make a piece of artwork, it becomes a kind of time capsule, bearing witness to events in my life, in our community, and in the world. I like to think that my artwork finds me, and hopefully finds its way to others as well.
