Gianbattista Ferraglio - Vase - Life on Mars - Les Flamboyantes - Ceramic - Raku

Gianbattista Ferraglio - Life on Mars - Les Flamboyantes - Ceramic sculpture in Raku, 2020

Vase-sculpture in Raku ceramic by Gianbattista Ferraglio, titled Life on Mars and part of the Les Flamboyantes family.

The compact, organic volume is entirely entrusted to the surface: the copper-red does not appear as a uniform color, but as a metallic skin crossed by variations in intensity, deeper areas and changing reflections. The lusters respond to the incident light following the irregularities of the material, revealing, from time to time, different passages of the modeling without breaking the chromatic unity of the work.

This character directly stems from Ferraglio’s research on Raku and copper lusters. After the first firing and the Raku smoking, the artist subjects the works to further slow, strongly reducing firings: a personal process developed through years of experimentation, in which the traces left by fire and smoking become visible again as metallic and chromatic variations.

In Life on Mars this relationship between earth, fire, copper and light takes on a particular coherence with the title of the work. The surface can evoke both a mineral matter, an oxidized crust and an extraterrestrial landscape, with passages from deep red to copper and metallic reflections.

The work is signed at the base and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Gianbattista Ferraglio, in addition to documentation related to its membership in Ateliers d'Art de France.

Dimensions with lid: 18 x 18 x 18 cm - 1536 grams

Conditions: perfect. The work has never been used and was purchased directly from the artist. It has no chips, cracks, restorations or other damage.

Gianbattista Ferraglio

Ferraglio encountered ceramics in the nineties through ceramist Armel Hédé. At the beginning of the twenty-first century he joined the workshop of the Franco-Japanese ceramist Yoshimi Futamura, in the Paris region, where he deepened the relationship between form, material and earth-working.

After several years of experience he settled in Rochefort-en-Terre, in Morbihan, Brittany, where he opened his own studio and developed autonomous research on the Raku technique. At the center of his work is what the artist defines as a true journey around copper: years of testing firings and reduction conditions led him to develop a personal procedure to obtain metallic lusters with extremely rich variations.

His works are created as unique pieces and have been shown at numerous events dedicated to contemporary ceramics and métiers d'art in France, including Résonance(s) in Strasbourg, Pièces Uniques in Rennes, the Biennale de Céramique in Sèvres and Les Tupiniers du Vieux Lyon. Ferraglio has been a member of the Argile association since 2012 and has been a member of Ateliers d'Art de France since 2014.

His studio is still located in Rochefort-en-Terre, one of the Breton centers historically linked to craftsmanship and artistic creation.

By purchasing this work you directly support the work of an independent artist active in Brittany and the continuity of an artisanal and artistic research developed over many years.