Biography
Since he emerged on the international scene in the late 1980s, Paul Ferman’s work has been widely exhibited in museums and galleries in Australia and Italy, but also in Ireland, The Netherlands, Switzerland and the U.S. Using a combination of negative film, collage and digital manipulation, his photographic series have been based on such recurring themes as decay, the layering of knowledge and the unreliability of memory. Since 2000, Ferman has produced different series of works inspired by fragile botany, Neapolitan archaeology, Shakespearean tragedy, the demise of his mother, the cynicism of the mass media, the night-lights of Tokyo and the emptiness of the Australian desert.
Other photographic series like Excavare (2005), San Motorino (2008) and Particle Decay (2017) testify to Ferman’s interest in Italian tradition and culture, and his reflections about the manifestation of synchronous time, when the past, present and future collide. Permanent Past (2019) alludes to the peculiarity of the Roman situation, recreating an urban landscape in which 28 centuries of ancient remains and contemporary life coexist. For his 2019 solo at Studio Stefania Miscetti in Rome, Ferman continued his exploration of different methods of how to exhibit his composite images – glossy prints on rolls of unframed paper, photographs mounted on aluminium and monumental video projections.
Ferman’s solo shows include at the King Street Gallery, M.O.P. and Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney, Span Gallery in Melbourne, Galleria Il Ponte Contemporanea and InternoVentidue in Rome, Pino Casagrande in Spoleto, Bencivart in Pesaro, Anita Neugebauer in Basel, OPTS in San Francisco and Front Room Gallery in Singapore. His works have also been featured in group exhibitions at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Gallese in Italy, Manly Art Museum in Sydney, Galleria Lipanjepuntin in Trieste, and Gallery Wessel + O’Connor in New York. His 2018 series of superimposed photographs based on visits to the battlefields of the Western Front in France and Belgium is part of the Salient exhibition project, which toured to six regional public galleries in New South Wales. Ferman’s large-scale photographs in black + white and colour can be found in the collections of the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, The Chartwell Collection in Christchurch (New Zealand), the Macquarie Bank in Sydney and the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery in Hobart.
Education
Fine Arts degree, University of Sydney
Solo exhibitions
2019 Permanent Past, Studio Stefania Miscetti, Rome
2017 Particle Decay, King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
2015 Abstract Particulars, Version 2, Olympic Park, Sydney
2013 Excavare, King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
2012 How can you be surprised by life, King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
2010 Shelter and Saint Motorino, King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
2008 Necessary Illusions, Galleria InternoVentidue, Roma
2008 Surface, King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
2007 Necessary Illusions, M.O.P. Gallery, Sydney
2007 Proximity & Abstract Particulars, Depot 2 Gallery, Sydney
2007 Abstract Particulars, Il Ponte Contemporanea, Roma
2007 Trance, Surface & Civilise, Span Gallery, Melbourne
2006 Civilise, M.O.P. Gallery, Sydney
2006 Domestic Sculpture, Span Gallery, Melbourne
2006 Mapping Mother & Surface, Depot Gallery, Sydney
2005 Domestic Sculpture (The All Australian Show), Il Ponte Contemporanea, Roma
2005 Of Uncertain Nature, Bencivart Gallery, Pesaro, Italy
2005 Tube Talk, Room 35, Gitte Weise Gallery, Sydney
2004 Survey, Front Room Gallery, Singapore
2003 Proximity, Il Ponte Contemporanea, Roma
2002 Palimpsest, Il Ponte Contemporanea, Roma
2002 Palimpsest, Galleria Dina Caróla, Napoli, Italy
2001 Untitled, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
1999 Mitosis – meiosis, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
1999 Mitosis – meiosis, New Zone, Ortona, Italy
1999 Mitosis – meiosis, Studio d’Arte Contemporanea Pino Casagrande, Spoleto, Italy
1998 Mitosis – meiosi, Studio d’Arte, Contemporanea Pino Casagrande, Spoleto, Italy
1996 Untitled, Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
1996 Untitled, OPTS Gallery, San Francisco
1995 Untitled, Studio d’Arte Contemporanea Pino Casagrande, Roma
1994 Untitled, Gallerie Anita Neugebauer, Basel, Switzerland
1993 Untitled, Michael Nagy Fine Art, Sydney
1989 Untitled, D.C. Art, Sydney
Selected group exhibitions
2021 Babies Are Knocking, Studio Stefania Miscetti, Rome
2020 Fisher’s Ghost Art Prize (Finalist), Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney
2020 Mosman Art Prize (Finalist), Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney
2018-20 Salient, Contemporary Artists at the Western Front – touring exhibition
- New England Regional Art Gallery, Armidale 23 March – 3 June 2018
- Bathurst Regional Art Gallery 10 August – 7 October 2018
- ANZAC Memorial Sydney 22 October 2018 – 17 February 2019
- Bank Art Museum Moree 5 March – 29 April 2019
- Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre 11 May – 30 June 2019
- Tweed Regional Gallery 29 November 2019 – February 2020
2017 Particle Decay Fractal Paradigm (End of Year), King Street Gallery on William, Sydney
2015 Survey of International Photography, Olsen Irvin Gallery, Sydney
2013 Looking Forward, King Street Gallery, Sydney
2012 Five Photo-based artists – Azzopardi, Ferman, Grome, McRae, Yang, Ausin Tung Gallery, Melbourne
2010 End of Year, King Street Gallery, Sydney
2009 In Paradise, Manly Art Museum
2008 MiArt 08, Milano, Italy
2007 BaTTiTi, Scuola S.Vitale, Ostuni, Italy
2007 Bologna Art Fair – Il Ponte Contemporanea
2006 Exquisite Corpse, Peleton Gallery, Sydney
2006 Transfigure, Melbourne Art Fair
2005 Twenty, Wessell + O’Connor Gallery, New York
2005 Felons, Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin
2005 Riparte XI, Roma
2005 Tripod, Spazio ex Deco, Teramo, Italy
2005 The All Australian Show, Galleria Lipanjepuntin, Trieste, Italy
2005 Room 35 – 8th Birthday, Gitte Weise Gallery, Sydney
2005 Cologne Art Fair, Bencivart Gallery
2004 Riparte X, Roma
2004 Ether, Il Ponte Contemporanea, Melbourne Art Fair
2003 Celebrate, Il Ponte Contemporanea, Roma
2002 Welcome – 02, Palazzo delle Esposizione, Roma
2001 Welcome – 01, Palazzo delle Esposizione, Roma
1999 Simbiosi, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Gallese, Viterbo, Italy
1998 Wessell + O’Connor Gallery, New York
1998 Uomo Ambiente Territorio, Vasto Museum, Italy
1997 Riparte III, Roma
1997 Globe-Trotter, Il Ponte Contemporanea, Roma
1996 Art Amsterdam, Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam
1996 Riparte II, Roma
1996 Click, Contemporary Photography, Ripa Residence, Roma
1996 John, Paul, Annie + Maree, Il Ponte Contemporanea, Roma
1995 Riparte I, Roma
1990 Hallmark Photographic Awards, National Gallery of Victoria, (touring exhibition)
1988 Hasselblad Masters, Sydney
1987 Hasselblad Masters, Sydney
Collections
Macquarie Bank, Sydney
Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris
Michael Shapiro Gallery, San Francisco
Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery, Sydney
Galerie Montenay, Paris
Galerie Serieuze Zaken, Amsterdam
Chartwell Collection, Christchurch, New Zealand
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Australia
Awards
2009 Gold Coast Art Prize (painting), Gold Coast City Gallery, Queensland
2009 Fisher’s Ghost Art Prize, Campbelltown Arts Centre, Sydney
2008 Albany Art Prize, Western Australia
2007 Josephine Ulrick-Win Schubert Photography Prize, Gold Coast City Gallery (First Prize)
2007 Pat Corrigan Acquisitive Award, Centre for Contemporary Photography, Melbourne (First Prize)
2006 City of Hobart Art Prize, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart, Australia
