Ferrigno Art & Design

About

 

Joe Ferrigno is an American artist and designer of Italian and Irish heritage living in Santa Cruz, California. He was born in the United States in 1965, and has lived, studied and worked in England, Italy and throughout the U.S.

 

This artist/designer has been making sculpture since he was a teenager. He created his first public outdoor sculpture at sixteen. Joe has always been fascinated and inspired by art, design and nature which fuels his passion to create works that embody balance and proportion within themselves and in their environment.

 

Throughout his career he has explored many disciplines and mediums. Joe Ferrigno has always taken an interest in expression through dance, singing, theatre, graphics, drawing, object design, photography and photo manipulation. He views these disciplines as different ways of understanding the world and ones self...creating a dialogue between the two, developing assertions to express through process and exploration.

 

During and before studying sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Joe was fortunate enough to explore his ability to capture the essence and gesture in life forms developing a dialogue with the materials in the process of creation with Alice Aycock and Dale Chihuly. After receiving his BFA, he worked with Wade Saunders, Dan Clayman, Steve Weinberg and Reno Bjork refining his skills.

 

Upon completing his first furniture commission, “The Heavy Set” chess table, Joe decided to further his abilities in design by pursuing a course of study towards a Master's degree in Industrial Design at Domus Academy in Milan. He developed and completed his Master’s Project, “The Kitchen Temple of Love”, with Paolo Deganello and studied with Andrea Branzi, Philippe Starck, Michele De Lucchi and Antonio Citterio.

 

In the recent past Joe has produced graphic products, hi-end photo retouch and photo illustration work for a myriad of clients while living in New York, Nantucket and Santa Cruz. He has created two dimensional works of art and design for Cliniqué, Tommy Hilfiger, Mc-Graw Hill and Avalon Books to name a few.

 

Most recently he has had commissions that have afforded the opportunity to pursue his greatest passions, sculpture and object design, while utilizing his innate ability to bring to life works that embody balance and proportion within themselves and in their environment. In these works he has been able to bring the dream to reality (fantasy to life) while capturing the essence and gesture of life force and in so doing bespeaks a true reverence for all of nature. Joe continues to develop assertions that create the opportunity for the viewer to reflect on their position and perspectives of themselves and the world. He is continually searching and discovering, through process, what the objects will become and allows the work to define its own identity.