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How strange life is. A dear friend of mine, on her stop-off to meet me in Blaye, walks through Paris and strolls into an artists’ house on Rue du Rivoli. She meets Luigi La Ferla, whose figurative and very expressionist work you may know from Chartres or from the last Ravenna Mosaico exhibition. After her arrival in the south, she shows me some photos she had taken that day, telling me “And then I meet that guy who works like you, with the mosaic hammer and that special glass!” A few weeks later, I walk up the stairs of the colorful building in the middle of the French capital with my video camera, curious to know more about his work.
On six floors of 59 Rivoli, a formerly occupied house in the 1st arrondissement, artists from different sectors and origins from all over the world have their place to work. In the midst of the hustle and bustle of creators and visitors, La Ferla welcomes me and tells me about his way of working – between a small session on the piano he gives in the room next door.
Luigi’s roots lie in painting, both regarding his origins (his father is a painter) and his own development: the native Sicilian studied Renaissance painting in Florence, then came into contact with mosaic making in Ravenna and finally studied at the Scuola Mosaicisti del Friuli. His work results from a creative process that combines music, writing, painting and mosaic making and bring out a very personal story.
PS: The mosaic on which he is working in the video interview was an order for a French winemaker and represents Luigi’s view of the process from grape harvesting to the final champagne. In the press area on Luigi’s website, you find an article by Le Monde on this work. Or just see the images below.
For more information about his work, also check his website luigilaferla.com.
