Pietro Ruffo

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Pietro Ruffo
Born 1978
Rome, Italy
Nationality Italian
Field Drawing, Painting, Sculpture
Movement Contemporary Art

Pietro Ruffo (born 1978) is an Italian contemporary artist.

Life and work

Originally introduced to art by his grandfather, Ruffo became an artist’s apprentice at the age of fourteen, working for two years before setting up his own studio in the countryside of Filacciano.[1] He graduated with a degree in architecture from the University of Rome in 2005 and moved to the Ex Pastificio Cerere in San Lorenzo, an historic artist’s residence.[2]

In 2005, Ruffo travelled to Beslan, Russia, to work with children who survived the massacre at their local school by Chechen rebels.[3] Immediately following the event, the artist worked as an art therapist, running workshops for the child survivors of the Beslan massacre.[4] His time spent in Beslan inspired a major work entitled, Beslan doppia mappatura (Beslan Double Mapping) 2006, which illustrates the destroyed classrooms and surviving children.[5] In 2011, Ruffo was selected for The Premio New York fellowship at Columbia University.[3] The research conducted during his time there served as the foundation for his series entitled, “The Political Gymnasium” which centres on the politico-philosophical writings and arguments of Robert Nozick.[6] This series was exhibited at BlainSouthern gallery in 2012.[7]

The artist is currently represented by BlainSouthern in London.

Philosophy

Ruffo’s artwork deals with questions concerning the nature of freedom and addresses a wide range of social, moral and political issues.[8] Ruffo’s practice reflects his intense social and moral concerns, as well as his stance on specific ethical issues. Working with media including drawing, painting, digital photography and video, he creates intricate and meticulously detailed objects which demand an intense manual working process.[9] The artist’s research is scholastic and yet his notes are graphic, rather than written. He discusses work not as a finished product but as a process-based research, open-ended and in continuous development.[3] On his philosophy, Stella Santacatterina, author of, “Pietro Ruffo: An Art of Unbounded Territories” writes,

“ Ruffo’s work is supported by a philosophy in which the world is not seen from a privileged anthropocentric perspective, but from one in which humans are but one – albeit destructive – part of an organic whole.[10] ”

Ruffo’s Flag Series from 2006 illustrates contemporary colonisation as predatory.[3] The works are composed of layered geographic image sources upon which the artist draws national flags made up of the intricate skulls of predatory mammals.[3] On these works, Santcatterina writes,

“ Ruffo’s work likewise offers us an expansive gaze on reality, in which the spectator is obliged to rethink its ethical relationship with the world as a shared by finite entity.[3] ”

Selected solo exhibitions

  • 2012 ‘Irhal,Irhal’, Galleria Lorcan O’Neill, Rome, Italy
  • 2012 ‘Grasweg’, Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Strasburgo, Strasbourg, France
  • 2012 ‘Freedom Supermarket’, Carlotta Testori Studio, Milan, Italy
  • 2012 ‘The Political Gymnasium’, Blain|Southern, London, UK.
  • 2011 ‘Complex Instant’, All – Russian Museum of Decorative Applied and Folk Art, part of the special projects of the fourth biennale of Moscow, Russia
  • 2011 ‘Negative Liberty’, Caffe Florian, Venice, Italy
  • 2011 ‘L’enfer c’est les autres’, Galerie di Meo, Paris, Rance
  • 2010 ‘Premio New York Show (with Marinella Senatore)’, Cassina Showroom, New York, US.
  • 2010 ‘I sei traditori della libertà’, Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Rome, Italy
  • 2010 ‘Roommates/Coinquilini’, (together with Valentino Diego), MACRO Rome, Italy
  • 2009 ‘Pietro Ruffo’, Museo Arte Contemporanea di Ravenna, Italy
  • 2009 ‘Pietro Ruffo, Un istante complesso’, Centro Arti Visive Pescheria, Pesaro, Italy
  • 2009 ‘Pietro Ruffo. Grasweg’, Galleria Lorcan O’Neill Roma, Rome, Italy
  • 2008 ‘Pietro Ruffo, Nothing new under the sand’, Testori UK, London, UK.
  • 2008 ‘Confini’, Museo archeologico Rossi, Ventimiglia, Italy

Selected group exhibitions

  • 2013 ‘Extra Large’, MACRO (Museo D'Arte Contemporanea Roma), Rome, Italy
  • 2012 ‘Regeneration’, MACRO (Museo D'Arte Contemporanea Roma), Rome, Italy
  • 2011 ‘Italian Genius Now. Home sweet home’, KAOSHIUNG MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, Taiwan
  • 2011 'TAICHUNG CREATIVE AND CULTURAL PARK', Taiwan
  • 2011 ‘When in Rome’, Italian Cultural Institute, Los Angeles, US.
  • 2011 ‘UN’ITA’, Italian Artists in New York, Industria Gallery, New York, US.
  • 2010 ‘Amor Parvi or the love of the small’, Kunstverein-Langenhagen, DE.
  • 2010 ‘Artifici contemporanei e difformità barocche’, ARCOS, Benevento, Italy
  • 2009 ‘SLASH, paper under the knife’, MAD Museum of Art and Design, New York, US.
  • 2009 ‘Cosi Lontano, Cosi Vicino’, Centro Culture Contemporanee, Rome, Italy
  • 2009 ‘Una forza del passato’, Red Bull Hangar-7, Salzburg Airport, Salzburg, AU.
  • 2009 ‘The Italian Sigh’, TEA (Tenerife Espacio de las Artes), Tenerife, ES.
  • 2009 ‘Cromofobie’, ExAurum, Pescara, Italy
  • 2008 ‘1988, vent’anni prima vent’anni dopo’, Museo d’arte contemporanea Pecci, Prato, Italy
  • 2008 ‘Passed as Present: Works from the Lodeveans Collection’, York Art Gallery, York, UK.
  • 2008 ‘Apocalittici e Integrati’, MAXXI – National Museum of the 21st Century Arts Rome, Italy
  • 2006 ‘Notte della Ricerca’, Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Frascati, Rome, Italy
  • 2006 ‘Crave’, Raw Space, London, UK.
  • 2006 ‘Out art’, villa dei Quintili, Rome, Italy
  • 2006 ‘Un quadro per un fondo’, Palazzo della Cancelleria, Rome, Italy
  • 2005 ‘Residenti’, Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Rome, Italy
  • 2005 ‘Fragments of time’, yellow bird gallery, New York, US.
  • 2004 ‘Bioma Urbano’, Banca ABN Amro Antonveneta, Rome, Italy
  • 2004 ‘InsideOut, A temporary art collection’, Red bull music Academy, Rome, Italy
  • 2004 ‘Otto monache nigre’, Todi, Perugia, Italy
  • 2004 ‘Premium+’, Postdamerplatz, Berlin, DE.
  • 2004 ‘TERRITORIALE: project room’, Milano Flash Art Fair, Milan, Italy
  • 2004 ‘Premio Mario Razzano’, Museo del Sannio, Benevento, Italy

External links

  • Pietro Ruffo Official Website
  • Blain Southern Official Website
  • Lorcanoneill
  • Pastificiocerere

Notes and references

  1. ↑ “Pietro Ruffo.” Fondazione Pastifico Cerere. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013.
  2. ↑ “Premio New York Artists.” The Italian Academy. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 Ibid.
  4. ↑ Spence, R. “New Temples in the Eternal City.” Financial Times. December 8, 2007.
  5. ↑ “Premio New York Artists.” The Italian Academy. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013.
  6. ↑ Seligman, I. “Pietro Ruffo Hits The Gym At Blain Southern.” ArtLyst. N.p., 17 Jan. 2013.
  7. ↑
  8. ↑ “Pietro Ruffo.” Blain|Southern Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2013.
  9. ↑ Santacatterina, S. “Pietro Ruffo: Art between Invention and Creation” Third Text, Volume 25, Issue 5, September 2011
  10. ↑ Santacatterina, S. “Pietro Ruffo: An Art Of Unbounded Territories.” Nothing New Under The Sand. London: Testori, 2008.
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