Exhibition Catalogue: Sergio Fermariello. The Warrior and His Simulacrum
On Friday, October 3, Galleria Russo inaugurates an exhibition by Sergio Fermariello entitled The Warrior and His Simulacrum. Conceived by the artist specifically for the gallery spaces, the exhibition features previously unseen works created especially for the occasion. Some of these are presented in dialogue with works by Giuseppe Capogrossi, Lucio Fontana, and Carla Accardi, included in the exhibition by Fermariello himself as evidence of a shared sensibility with twentieth-century artistic expressions that have reached the present day in a renewed form.
In 1987, Fermariello began drawing multitudes of stylized figures using a Rapidograph pen and India ink. Thus were born his unmistakable warriors—silhouettes reduced to their essence and multiplied across the canvas against contrasting fields of color. These early works, which earned him the International Saatchi & Saatchi Prize for Young Artists, were also exhibited in the historic Neapolitan gallery of Lucio Amelio.
Fermariello’s painting is dominated by the sign, understood as a form of writing—an inner alphabet expressing the language of the unconscious, nourished by suggestions and references to Eastern art. From a formal perspective, his work belongs to the tradition of Italian gestural abstraction of the 1950s and 1960s, alongside and extending the research of masters such as Giuseppe Capogrossi, Lucio Fontana, Pietro Consagra, Arnaldo Pomodoro, and Carla Accardi.
Fermariello’s work conveys a vital melancholy that, as emphasized by Demetrio Paparoni in the essay accompanying the exhibition catalogue, becomes a driving force and a means of investigating memory. Paparoni writes:
“The warrior emerges as an emblematic figure of the contemporary condition, simultaneously embodying both the idea of conflict and that of protecting the community. He is always ready for sacrifice and permeated by that death drive which manifests itself in humanity’s destructive tendencies.”
Steeped in philosophical, sociological, and psychoanalytic references, Fermariello’s art concentrates its message in the figure of the warrior—a symbol of an individual deprived of the possibility of influencing a society that is becoming increasingly virtualized, where technology advances to the point of progressively replacing human beings.
With approximately twenty works on display, the exhibition invites viewers to explore forms, colors, and compositional balances that are essential to the artist’s expressive language. Fermariello’s preferred materials—canvas, aluminum, and marble paste—further energize a visual alphabet that is constantly evolving.
