{"id":14503,"date":"2020-04-07T23:20:57","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T21:20:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/galleriamichelarizzo.it\/leon-ferrari\/"},"modified":"2022-07-29T15:01:30","modified_gmt":"2022-07-29T13:01:30","slug":"leon-ferrari","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/galleriamichelarizzo.it\/en\/leon-ferrari\/","title":{"rendered":"LE\u00d3N FERRARI"},"content":{"rendered":"
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He was born in Buenos Aires in l920. He is autodidact in arts. Due to family matters, he travelled to Italy in l952 and started working in art in Rome in l955. That year he made his first one man exhibition in Milan and he came back to Argentina. He made sculptures with different types of materials: ceramics, plaster, cement, wood and finally with stainless steel wires.
\nIn l959 he produced the medium-length film \u201cPrimera Fundaci\u00f3n de Buenos Aires\u201d, written and directed by Fernando Birri, about a drawing of Oski. This film got 3 national prizes (best medium - length film, direction and music) and it represented Argentina at the Festival of Cannes in l959.
\nIn l962, during his second trip to Italy he started making his written drawings when Arturo Schwarz invited him to be part of the edging-collection \u201cAntolog\u00eda internazionale dell\u2019incisione contempor\u00e1nea\u201d - published by the Galer\u00eda Schwarz, in Milan, l962. In l964 Vanni Scheiwiller published in Milan the book \u201cEscrito en el Aire\u201d, with poetries written by Rafael Alberti and drawings made by L.F.
\nAfter 4 one-man exhibitions in Buenos Aires, he was invited to take part at the l965-Di Tella prize. He presented 4 works which critizised the American agression in Vietnam. One of them, \u201cLa Civilizaci\u00f3n Occidental y Cristiana\u201d, an image of a crucified Christ - bought at a shop selling religious images - on an American bomber, was rejected. The newspaper La Prensa strongly critisized the works which were still shown at the exhibition - the a.m. newspaper said that these were not art-works. LF answered that he was not worried about the fact that they were art-works or not, he just wanted to express his ideas regarding the Western world as efficiently as possible. This principle, which since then has been a guide-line for almost all his work - was supported by his essay \u201cEl arte de los significados\u201d, which he read at the meetings held before the exhibition \u201cTucum\u00e1n Arde\u201d, l968.
\nAfter the Di Tella-exhibition he stopped working and just made some political works which were shown at colective exhibitions. He took part in the organization of \u201cHomenaje al Vietnam\u201d\/l966 (the biggest colective political exhibition held in our country), \u201cTucum\u00e1n Arde\u201d\/l968, \u201cMalvenido Rockefeller\u201d\/l969, etc. At that time he made a literary collage, \u201cPalabras Ajenas\u201d about the Vietnam war (a parallel between Johnson, Hitler and the Christian gods). This work was published by the author in l966 (some mimeograph-copies) and by Falbo in l967. Leopoldo Mahler showed this play in London in l968, it was called \u201cListen Here Now\u201d. Pedro Asquini introduced it in Buenos Aires in l973. Between l967 and 1970 he wrote the essay \u201cPaul VI and Vietnam\u201d. Between l972 and l976 he took part at the \u201cForo por los Derechos Humanos\u201d and the \u201cMovimiento contra la Represi\u00f3n y la Tortura\u201d.
\nDue to political reasons he left the country in l976 and settled down in Sao Paulo, Brazil. There he once again took up his work with metal sculptures and made different experiences involving photocopies, mail art, heliography, microchips, video texts, books of artists, etc. During l980\/82 he made big maps, using Letraset-letters - a system used by architects - which were reproduced in heliographies. He developed different musical instruments (which he used for different performances), and which Conrado Silva used to compose his \u201cVariaciones para v\u00e1stagos met\u00e1licos\u201d. Between l980 and l984 he published some books with drawings and collages (editions by the author of around 100\/200 copies): \u201cHombres\u201d, \u201cCuadro Escrito\u201d, \u201cImagens\u201d, etc.<\/p>\n

In l983 he took up again the political-religious subject: he made hundreds of collages in which he mixed the catholic iconography, the oriental erotic and contemporary images, where he showed the behaviour of the biblical gods and the contemporary consequences of the violence inside the Holy Scripture. In l985 he published \u201cLa Bas\u00edlica\u201d, a literary and images collage; in l986 \u201cParahereges\u201d, an images collage and in l989 \u201cB\u00edblia\u201d, drawings for the Holy Scripture. He has 5 unpublished volumes with 250 colour-collages, also critical drawings from the Bible.
\nHe has been living in Buenos Aires since l991 where he continues working about the subject of art and Christianity and is also making pastel drawings and other drawings which No\u00e9 Jitrik calls the a r c h e o l o g y o f t h e s i g n. Besides he held several speeches about religious subjects: \u201cConquista y Religion\u201d, IV Jornadas de Teor\u00eda e Historia de las Artes, Buenos Aires l992; \u201cJes\u00fas y el antisemitismo cristiano\u201d, \u201cCongreso Am\u00e9rica 92, Raizes e Trajetorias\u201d, USP, Sao Paulo, Brazil, l992; and \u201cSexo y Violencia en la iconograf\u00eda cristiana\u201d, which was prepared for the seminar \u201cArte y Violencia\u201d of the Instituto de Investigaciones Est\u00e9ticas of the UNAM, in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. In l993 he published the literary collage \u201cEx\u00e9gesis\u201d.
\nIn l994 he made several works with mannequins. He covered their bodies with holy and secular images as well as manuscripts of Bible texts, poems written by Borges, etc. At present he is finishing - with the aid of a Guggenheim scholarship - his study about sex and violence in Christian art, which he introduced at the seminar in Mexico. He is illustrating with collages the fascicules of the book \u201cNunca M\u00e1s\u201d of the CONADEP edited by the newspaper P\u00e1gina 12.
\nOne of the characteristics of Leon Ferrari\u2019s work is the use of press work, either copied as part of the a.m. literary collages (Palabras Ajenas, La Bas[ilica and Ex\u00e9gesis) or direcly included in drawings or collage-images. Some newspaper excerpts were used in l964 for the manuscript \u201cSwish and Swallow\u201d, which was published in the book \u201cCuadro Escrito\u201d. Said book also includes a manuscript-copy of two newspaper commentaries. Newspaper excerpts were used in \u201cCristo Muri\u00f3\u201d, one of the works shown at the Di Tella that year. In l968 at the exhibition \u201cTucum\u00e1n Arde\u201d, where he introduced photograph-copies of hundreds of newspaper news about the conflicts which took place in that province. In l976, the news compilation about the repression in the book \u201cNosotros no Sab\u00edamos\u201d. In l989, in the work \u201cEl Proceso\u201d shown at a retrospective exhibition at the Museo S\u00edvori. In l993, in a collage \u201cComplicidades\u201d (100 cm x 200 cm), with news about the collaboration of the Church with the military dictatorship, shown at the exhibition \u201cHorror Urbano\u201d. In l994 in \u201cCausas y Consecuencias\u201d, photocopies of printed material with images of the Third Reich sticked to a Christ made of plaster. In l995 newsaper pieces were used in the drawings for \u201cNunca M\u00e1s\u201d.
\nL.F. has also held some short debates:
\nIn l965 with the newspaper La Prensa about the works which were exhibited at the Premio Di Tella of that year. In l982 with the Italian Embassy in Argentina because they were not willing to publish the names of hundreds of Italian citizens who dissapeared during the military dictatorship. In l991 with the Asociaci\u00f3n Argentina Protectora de los Animales (Argentine Institution for Animal Rights). Said institution wanted the removal of LF\u2019s work \u201cLa Justicia\u201d (Justice), shown at a colective exhibition at the museo S\u00edvori. The work showed a hen in a cage which defecated on a scale. In l993 with Cardinal Antonio Quarracino who said that an exhibition of erotic art was garbage. In l995 with the publisher Manrique Zago because of the book \u201cDe Dios, el Hombre y la Vida\u201d, which was introduced at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes by Cardinal Quarracino, a close collaborator of the military dictatorship. Also in l995 with the General Secretary of the Army, General Bossi, as said general criticized one of the collages of \u201cNunca M\u00e1s\u201d which showed a nazi eagle over the Military School.
\nPrizes
\nPrize for sculpture at the Salao de Arte de Riberao Preto, Brazil, l979.
\nPrize for printing at the IV Bienal Americana de Artes Gr\u00e1ficas, Cali, Colombia l981.
\nHonourable Mention at the Bienal de La Habana, l984
\nPrize of the Asociaci\u00f3n de Cr\u00edticos de Sao Paulo for the best exhibition of l983
\nGuggenheim scholarship l995.
\nFollowing museums and institutions have works of Leon Ferrari: in Buenos Aires:Museo S\u00edvori, Museo de Arte Moderno, Fondo Nacional de las Artes, Museo de Arte Contempor\u00e1neo, Museo del Grabado and the Nagel, Helft and Giesso collections.
\nThe Museum Carrillo Gil and the Modern Art Museum of Mexico.
\nLa Tertulia Museum of Cali, Colombia.
\nThe Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro\/Brazil.
\nIn Sao Paulo, Brazil: Modern Art Museum, Art Museum of Sao Paulo, Brazilian Art Museum, State\u2019s Art gallery, Museum for Contemporary Art of the USP,
\nIn La Habana:La Casa de las Am\u00e9ricas, Centro Wilfredo Lam
\nSalvador Allende Museum in Chile
\nFranklin Furnace and the Bronx Museum in New York
\nRuth and Marvin Sackner Collection in Miami
\nArturo Scharz collection in Milan, etc.
\nPublications by L.Ferrari
\n\u201cEscrito en el Aire\u201d, Poems by Rafael Alberti with drawings made by Leon Ferrari, Vanni Scheiwiller, Milan, l964
\n\u201cPalabras Ajenas\u201d, literary collage: (first version was mimeographed, l966) Falbo Editor, Buenos Aires, l967.
\n\u201cNosotros no sab\u00edamos\u201d, collection of newspaper records about the repression in l976, edited by the author, l976-94.
\n\u201cHombres\u201d, collages made with Letraset, published by the author (Ediciones Licopodio), Buenos Aires, l984.
\n\u201cCuadro Escrito\u201d, manuscripts, published by the author (Ediciones Licopodio), Buenos Aires, l984.
\n\u201cLa Bas\u00edlica\u201d, literary and images-collage, published by the author (Edicoes Exu), Sao Paulo, Brazil.
\n\u201cParahereges\u201d, collages with Duerer-prints and oriental erotic images, Editora Expressao, Sao Paulo, l986.
\n\u201cB\u00edblia\u201d, collages which illustrate verses from the Bible, published by the author (Edicoes Exu), Sao Paulo, l989.
\n\u201cImagens\u201d, drawings and collages of l979 and l981, introduced by Jos\u00e9 Teixeira Coelho, published by the author (Edicoes Exu), Sao Paulo, l989.
\n\u201cEx\u00e9gesis\u201d, literary collage, published by the author (Edicoes Exu), Buenos Aires, l993.
\nArtist\u2019s books: Labirinto, Xadrez, Poes\u00edas, El Camis\u00f3n, and others.
\nOther publications:
\nLetter to La Prensa in response to a critic to his works, Prop\u00f3sitos 10\/7\/65
\n\u201cLa Obediencia Debida es una Ley Cristiana\u201d, Crisis No 66, November l988
\n\u201cConquista y Religi\u00f3n\u201d, IV Jornadas de Teor\u00eda e Historia de las Artes: \u201cLas Artes en el Debate del Quinto Centenario\u201d, October l992, Facultad de Filosof\u00eda y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires.
\n\u201cJes\u00fas y el antisemitismo cristiano\u201d, lecture for the Congress \u201cAm\u00e9rica 92, raizes e trajetorias\u201dat the University of Sao Paulo in August l992.
\n\u201cSobre Justicias y Preservativos\u201d, catalogue for exhibition in Giesso, l992, published in P\u00e1gina 12 - 6\/9\/92.
\n\u201cArte y Poder\u201d, lecture at the Centro Cultural Rojas - meeting with artists, l993. V Congress about Theory and Art History, Art and Power, at the Facultad de Filosof\u00eda y Letras of the Universidad de Buenos Aires. Published in the Diario de las Madres de Plaza de Mayo, Decembre l993.
\nLetter to Cardinal Quarracino, 3\/26\/93, as a responce to his critics regarding the colective exhibition \u201cErotizarte\u201d. Published in El Libertino, a\u00f1o I, No 7, l993.
\n\u201cMuerte de Ricardo Carreira\u201d, P\u00e1gina 12, 8\/31\/93
\n\u201cSexo y violencia en la iconograf\u00eda cristiana\u201d, lecture at the XVIII Coloquio Internacional de Historia del Arte, Arte y Violencia, organized by the Instituto de Investigaciones Est\u00e9ticas de la Universidad Nacional Aut\u00f3noma in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, in November l994.
\n\u201cVidrios estallados y chicos vendidos\u201d, introduction to the exhibition of Oscar Bony in Filo, l994, La Voz del Bajo, August l994.
\n\u201cUna Iglesia para Buenos Aires\u201d, Projeto Babel, Sao Paulo, Brazil, l995.
\n\u201cSobre sexo, SIDA y censura\u201d, P\u00e1gina 12, 3\/28\/95.
\n\u201cBiblia y Proceso\u201d, controvercy about the book \u201cDe Dios, el Hombre y la Vida\u201d, P\u00e1gina 12, 4\/25, 5\/9, 5\/23, and 5\/30\/95.
\n\u201cIm\u00e1genes del Nunca M\u00e1s\u201d, answer to a critic made by the General Secretary of the Army, General Ernesto J. Bossi, against some of the drawings made for Nunca M\u00e1s. P\u00e1gina 12, 10\/19\/95.
\nUnpublished
\n\u201cEl arte de los significados\u201d, lecture held before the exhibition \u201cTucum\u00e1n Arde\u201d in August l968.
\n\u201cPaulo VI y El Vietnam\u201d, essay about the complicity of the Vatican with the U.S.A. in Vietnam. l966\/70.
\n\u201cRelecture of the Bible\u201d, l984-l990, 5 volumes with around 250 colour-collages about stories of the Bible.
\n\u201cParaherejes II\u201d, 50 collages, black and white. Second part of \u201cParahereges\u201d, published in Brazil.
\nLetter to the Sociedad Argentina Protectora de los Animales (12\/3\/91) answering the request of the a.m. society regarding the work \u201cLa Justicia\u201d where they asked Leon Ferrari to take away the chicken which was part of the work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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https:\/\/leonferrari.com.ar\/<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He was born in Buenos Aires in l920. He is autodidact in arts. Due to family matters, he travelled to Italy in l952 and started working in art in Rome in l955. That year he made his first one man exhibition in Milan and he came back to Argentina. He made sculptures with different types […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"page-artista.php","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/galleriamichelarizzo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14503"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/galleriamichelarizzo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/galleriamichelarizzo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galleriamichelarizzo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galleriamichelarizzo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14503"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/galleriamichelarizzo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14503\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14505,"href":"https:\/\/galleriamichelarizzo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/14503\/revisions\/14505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/galleriamichelarizzo.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}