The statement
Through a visual dissection of would be lost iconic images of human history, this work revives the past in order to create a new “pulp fiction” - one where memory is fabricated through rendered or cut-and-pasted historical photographs, color, surrealism, and illustration. Through a series or fractured images and ideas working together in harmonious conflict, the subjects pictured in these works are ones who embody both beauty and despair. The patterns, found materials, and renderings that surround, backdrop, or interrupt these remnants of our culture and counterculture recreate them in an experience that matches how our own modern generation experiences life - with an undeniable seriousness, but also a bit of kitsch to soften the blow of how vulnerable we really are.
Mike Ferrari was born and raised in New Jersey. He has a BFA from Mason Gross School of The Arts at Rutgers University and an MA in painting from Montclair State University. Mike is a fine art teacher at Paramus High School and also teaches art courses at the Montclair Art Museum. He lives in Montclair with his wife and two children.