It’s safe to say New York City’s modern art scene has seen it all. But one Italian artist is on a mission to challenge this notion with his invention of an entirely new medium.
Federico Vezzaro has spent 15 years developing a method to create designs on metal plates using the natural oxidation of surface—resulting in rust. Yesterday, in Brooklyn, he introduced his works to the American market with his first international exhibition: Carminium.
“I started with the most basic elements of this process, so it’s filled with mistakes, failures, and messes,” Vezzaro said. After years of experimenting with samples, which he chose to display at the exhibition for guests to observe, he reached a level of chemical stabilization. Every piece displayed on the walls, he explained, was created in recent months.
Most of Vezzaro’s works are simple. His designs range from rust stains to lines and circles. For Vezzaro, everything revolves around the medium: “I wanted something direct, unmediated, unaltered—something that expresses the force within the material itself, its energy.”
Vezzaro’s favorite piece is a vertical canvas with rust lines that resemble Morse code. When asked if it has a title, he shakes his head: “Titles are limiting.” Instead, he explains, he assigns each work a five-digit code drawn from the Fibonacci sequence. “Since the golden ratio is infinite but tends toward perfection, the more I create, the closer I get to perfection.”
Drawing with rust, however, wasn’t Vezzaro’s initial goal. He began his career as a furniture designer specializing in bio-construction, using sustainable and eco-friendly materials. “His passion for using natural raw materials often led him to develop his own formulations for paints and finishes,” reads Vezzaro’s biography.
This background allowed him to develop his unique rust stabilization technique, enabling him to preserve his designs and prevent natural decay. The process relies on acid use and involves about 30 steps, depending on the desired hue.
“The true identity of the works comes from the acid’s aggression. A true act of violence,” Vezzaro explained about the meaning behind his process.
Vezzaro hopes his exhibition will allow people to see the potential to create something beautiful from something insignificant. “Iron is humble; you wouldn’t even think it has this intrinsic value,” he said.
One thing is certain: no one in New York City’s art scene does what he does. Now that his works are public, Vezzaro hopes to attract the attention he desires:
“Seeing this sedative process, the colors expressed in this raw, violent way, is really fascinating.”
