Virginio Ferrari is an Italian sculptor, born in Verona and based in Chicago from the middle of the 1960s. He has had more than 50 solo exhibitions and participated in more than 150 group shows. Ferrari Studios, a site for both Virginio and his son Marco, is at 412 S. Wells, 3rd Floor, Chicago, Illinois 60607.
Verona is a city on the Adige river in Veneto, Italy, with 258,108 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third largest in northeast Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona covers an area of 1,426 km2 (550.58 sq mi) and has a population of 714,274 inhabitants. It is one of the main tourist destinations in northern Italy, because of its artistic heritage and several annual fairs, shows, and operas, such as the lyrical season in the Arena, the ancient amphitheater built by the Romans.
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890 by John D. Rockefeller, the school is located on a 217-acre campus in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood, near Lake Michigan. The University of Chicago holds top-ten positions in various national and international rankings.
In his early works, Ferrari worked in an abstract and surrealist style but later began to produce monumental sculptures in bronze, steel, iron, marble and granite. His sculptures have been installed in many large US cities and often involve a dialogue between the interiority of the work and the exterior space.
Ferrari, in his own words, describes his idea about the role of the modern, urban artist: "In an urban environment with its social problems, the individual can decide either to become involved or to remain indifferent, but he must make that choice again each day since the problem remains."
Dialogo at the University of Chicago
Dialogo. Image taken at 12:00 noon, May 1, 2007, showing the modified hammer and sickle image visible at that time.
His sculpture Dialogo, in front of Pick Hall at 5828 South University Avenue on the University of Chicago is famous on campus because of the shadow it casts at noon each May Day. The shadow clearly shows a sickle very similar to that found in the flag of the former Soviet Union. It also shows a second object which student legend claims is a hammer. The object is clearly in the proper position to be a hammer from the communist flag and intersects the sickle at the correct place. However, the shape of the head of the hammer differs somewhat from that of the flag.
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. Nominally a union of multiple national Soviet republics, its government and economy were highly centralized. The country was a one-party state, governed by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital in its largest republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Other major urban centres were Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Alma-Ata, and Novosibirsk. It spanned over 10,000 kilometres east to west across 11 time zones, and over 7,200 kilometres north to south. It had five climate zones: tundra, taiga, steppes, desert and mountains.
Each year, a crowd of several dozen curious bystanders gathers to observe the formation of the shadow around noon. Ferrari himself has denied that he intended his sculpture to cast such a shadow.
Exhibits
1967, Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago
2003, Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Palazzo Forti di Verona,
Awards
1977, Illinois State Service Award
1993, Cavaliere Ufficiale della Repubblica Italiana for his contributions in the international field of art
Important Public Art
Being Born (1983) 600 N. Orleans, Chicago, IL
Dialogo (1973) in front of Pick Hall, 5828 South University Avenue, Hyde Park, Chicago
Super Strength" (1996), University of Illinois-Chicago
Ombre della Sera (2001) Galleria d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea Palazzo Forti, Verona Italy
La Famiglia (2001), Pietra di Verona, Public Park, Borgo Nuovo, Verona, Italy
Elementi Circolari in Movimento (2002), Public City Pool, Borgo Roma, Verona, Italy
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