SLAG, Marco Ceroni, mimetic urban campaign captured by TONI BRUGNOLI.

Reimagining the tropes of his waking life, Marco Ceroni creates sculptures from a variety of mediums when reality collides with his mental and visual universe. Through a metropolitan gaze, his work often explores the realm of waste materials - from old motorbike parts to animal remains. His recent, fascinating, confrontation with ceramics in collaboration with the Museo Carlo Zauli, Faenza, has informed Marco’s current exhibition. SLAG, at GALLERIAPIù, Bologna, is a visual summary of the narrative he has engaged with in all of his collective work. “SLAG is an attack to reality where panic tries to climb up on the surface of things,” he describes. Together with the gallery’s technicians and other like-minded artists, SLAG came together in a hybrid space where various worlds and scenarios seem to flirt with each other.

What is your background in art and sculpture and how does this inform what you create today?

I have had an academic artistic path, but I have never studied Sculpture. Approaching sculpture came quite slowly yet natural to me: it was a necessity for my expressive research process. Since I had not any specific technical background, I learned everything by ‘stealing with my eyes’.

Even today I draw inspiration for my works mainly by my personal life, rather than being influenced by an artistic background in particular. It’s the different experiences I have had, many different places and environments, my friends and travel companions that make my work move.

What is your preferred medium and why do you enjoy working in it?

To date, I have worked with many different media. At first, I gave performances and actions around the city, maybe also because I didn't have a studio of my own back then. So, the outskirts of Milan became my open-air studio where I expressed myself in a visceral and instinctive way. I think about, for example, The Golden Edge series (2013-2016).

As for sculpture, I have experimented with a wide range of materials such as concrete, marble, motorbike bodyworks, fiberglass resin, spray, gold-leaf. This year, thanks to my collaboration with the ‘Museo Carlo Zauli’ in Faenza, I have started working with ceramics, thus discovering a fascinating world of endless possibilities, yet sometimes dangerous, because one may run the risk of getting lost inside it. The experience with ceramics helped my research evolve and I enjoyed it a lot, but I don't see it as a final destination. I can't imagine myself working with just one medium. Each material is functional to boosting the inner potential of an artwork and making me and my research evolve. In my artistic path, performance and sculpture are closely linked: actions, such as Strong Belief (2016) and Untitled (2016), often serve as preliminary sketches for my sculptures while highly structured performances, such as PUPA (2019) help sculptures find their place in a well-defined and precise scenario.

SLAG, Marco Ceroni, 2020, ceramic, ph. Stefano Maniero, courtesy GALLLERIAPIÙ.

Where do you find the most inspiration for your work - can you give an example?

My works always originate outside my studio. Real life makes every work live. My personal experience blends with rap music, genre movies and books that have influenced my visual world. My life in the small town of Faenza, the rave parties, my new life in Milan between squats and suburban buildings are the basics of my work. In small towns, especially in those in Emilia-Romagna, motorbikes have always played a central role. Even the raver’s scene has always been populated by a large variety of crazy vehicles, such as Mutoid Waste Company, based in Santarcangelo di Romagna: their sculptures and constructions are tattooed in my pupils. The courtyards of Milan’s council estate area are deeply characterized by scooters, that have a strong physical presence. Besides, their shape changes continuously and this makes them look alive. In those specific contexts scooter parts lost their original meaning and took on new ones; now I am trying to give shape to the vibrations that I received from those objects and situations. That’s how the CULT series (2019) was born, where scooter parts are given new shapes ranging from the animal world to mysterious demons. SLAG (2020), my latest series of sculptures, is a visual summary of what I have tried to explain so far.

SLAG, Marco Ceroni, 2020, installation view at GALLLERIAPIÙ, wall painting by Giorgio Bartocci and Stefano Serretta, ph. Stefano Maniero, courtesy GALLLERIAPIÙ.

SLAG, Marco Ceroni, 2020, installation view at GALLLERIAPIÙ, ph. Stefano Maniero, courtesy  GALLLERIAPIÙ. — SLAG, Marco Ceroni, 2020, installation view at GALLLERIAPIÙ, ph. Stefano Maniero, courtesy GALLLERIAPIÙ.

Can you describe the meaning and inspiration behind your current exhibition ‘SLAG’ - especially the title?

SLAG is waste material, it is a residue that is given new shape and, in its turn, opens up a new world inside itself. The parts of disassembled scooters filling the courtyards of our houses become fetishes of a new kind of urban interaction. The shape of a Booster bodywork is made in ceramics then modified by means of clutches recalling the organic world, thus creating a collection of sculptures poised between slag and animal remains. SLAG is an attack to reality where panic tries to climb up on the surface of things.

Inside GALLERIAPIù I tried to build a hybrid space where different worlds and scenarios flirt with each other. SLAG is the result of a collective process in which many people took part. I triggered many featurings such as the one with Giorgio Bartocci, a visual artist who has created a site-specific pictorial work on the walls of the gallery together with Stefano Serretta, again an artist and a friend of mine. Toni Brugnoli immortalized my works through his own harsh and metropolitan gaze. Last but not least, Gabriele Colia and Veronica Santi, who, respectively, created the graphic image of the project and shot the launching video for these new works. All together we have given shape to a project in which environment and imagination get together and amplify each other.

I saw that your sculpture titled ‘Lacoste’ - reminiscent of the iconic Lacoste crocodile - was recently added to the exhibition. Can you explain the connection this has to ‘SLAG’ and why you chose to make this addition?

LACOSTE is the final result of my residence at the ‘Museo Carlo Zauli’, where I started working with ceramics. In my opinion, I have taken a further step in my research with this work and thanks to this material. As before, in LACOSTE (2020) the starting point is an element of the urban landscape, in this case a torn tire on the side of the road, which is then completely transfigured. Here it is no longer easy to be given a hint about everyday life. The only way for you to get that hint is to enter my world. LACOSTE was presented in my solo show SQUAME at the ‘Museo Carlo Zauli’ where it was connected to two sculptures from the SLAG series. As you said, I have recently decided to install LACOSTE inside my solo show SLAG at GALLLERIAPIù, which was inaugurated on September 25th. It was a step that I took naturally in this exhibition that I consider alive. LACOSTE finds new life and a new environment which, in its turn, redefines itself.

Are there any themes in your work that feel personal to you?

Yes, each one of them.

How do you usually come up with concepts for new projects? - can you explain the process?

My reality collides with my mental and visual universe, thus triggering a hyperbolic movement which is finally seized in my works.

What is next for Marco Ceroni?

To expand. Stay tuned.