Joe Ferriso grew up in Long Island, NY, and studied at The Cooper Union. He moved to the Bay Area in 2009 and co-founded an experimental furniture studio, Anzfer Farms. In 2018, he received an MFA from Stanford University. Recently, he moved with his wife, baby, and dog to The Sea Ranch, CA. Working in multiple mediums and disciplines, his artwork explores the numerous uses of paint to excite and connect people.

“My curiosity to try new things propels my work into new formats and venues. I find it is crucial to remain open to new influences, changing circumstances, and chance encounters. Some of my personal interests include typographic forms, furniture, lighting, paper airplanes, everyday objects, walking, color in everything, combinations and transitions, proverbs, poetry, grids, symbols, spirals, numbers, and more. This openness to visual roving enables me to work through many forms, subjects, materials, and contexts both inside and outside the sphere of art.”

-Joe Ferriso

JM: In your series of watercolors I counted that you consistently have four rows of six paintings or six rows of four paintings always totaling 24 paintings. How did you come about determining this structure of sequencing your images? 

JF: Design has always been a strong motivator in my art. When I feel something click visually, it drives me to dig deeper, make iterations, and explore content. The grid of 24 developed from a daily watercolor project I started at the Cité Internationale residency in Paris. Everyday, I’d bring my small painting kit with me and shoot off some paintings wherever I found myself. Eventually, I was painting about 20 a day and then I’d lay them out in the evening to review. Once I found that 24 made a perfect square in either landscape or portrait orientation, I latched on to that format for both its connection to the 24 hours of the day and also because the square held the images together as a single work. Even though there is nothing tidy about the expansive range of subjects, I think of the square as equalizing it all.

JM: You have a range of subject matter that spans from seagulls to cemetery plots. How do you go about deciding what imagery to depict on any given day?

JF: Some days I have a vision or thought in my head but most days, I just find my spot and then look around, reflect, observe and then dig in. I look for the things that are trying not to be seen, a glass of water, a matchstick, a plastic bag, dust, pebbles, fruit flies, etc. sometimes current events, or personal emotions factor into the paintings because they are daily. The cemetery plots came from walking around the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, and the seagulls were flying around at Lake Merritt. The paintings tend to be based around my daily life, walking, biking or driving. I enjoy painting observationally when possible, it helps me define color relationships more accurately. I get most excited when I see something that I can reduce into color and shape while still holding onto it’s descriptive qualities. I think paint is so good at implying.