The New York City art scene may have seen it all—or so we thought. Now, an Italian artist is turning heads with his debut of a fresh, unexpected medium: artwork created from rust.
Federico Vezzaro has spent over a decade honing a method for imprinting designs on metal surfaces by harnessing the natural oxidation process. The result is rust—a unique form of patina that he’s developed into an expressive medium. Yesterday, Vezzaro introduced his work to the American audience in Brooklyn with his first international solo exhibition, Carminium.
“I started with the most basic elements of this process, so it’s filled with mistakes, failures, and messes,” Vezzaro explained. After years of refining and testing, he achieved a stable chemical process, which allows each piece to maintain its integrity without degrading. On the walls of the gallery, all the works displayed represent his recent creations, marking a milestone in his exploration.
Vezzaro’s designs have a minimalist quality, with compositions that range from blotches of rust to structured lines and circles. For him, the medium is the message. “I wanted something direct, unmediated, unaltered—something that expresses the force within the material itself, its energy.”, he shared.
One piece that stands out is a vertical canvas covered with rust patterns resembling Morse code. When asked about a title, Vezzaro simply replied: “Titles are limiting.” nstead, he assigns each work a unique five-digit number based on 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.”
