Federico Arani’s exhibition for Commonage explores an innate relationship with the underground and concealment, a sifting through the past, a reclaiming of the abandoned and an excavation of the uncanny. The works represent a new development in his practice through nickel electroforming, an alchemical and transformative process. Various salvaged artefacts, including lead figures and bullet casings, metamorphosise with organic specimens such as decaying branches and found fossils to become new ageless, transmuted forms – hybrids of the natural and synthetic, the found and hand-crafted. Arani has an egalitarian approach to materials, that have a contradictory extraordinary presence and throw-away absence. The electroplating method creates a shell of each object, a progeny of its origin, preserving before it decomposes or gets lost again for future speculation.

As well as the archaeological, the works in the show consider the metaphysical and the transcendental, and the inevitable decay of things, and us, to other states of being. Sprouting downwards from the ceiling of the basement gallery, reminiscent of a reversed antenna seeking a signal to the elsewhere, or a corrupted plant/body with its tendrils, roots or limbs that are host to parasitic elements. Along the gallery wall are stacked transparent vessels perhaps for cataloguing, analysis, and a further merging of the ecological, primoradial and otherworldly. These layers are like strata, records of uncovered histories. Another work, crafted from rubber and ceramic feels functional in its form, however, there is no clear understanding what this function might be, could it be another dowsing device to rediscover or reconnect?

In this his first solo exhibition, Federico Arani’s practice encompasses sculpture, painting and site-specific interventions as well as curating exhibitions and community-based projects. He studied Painting and Visual Arts at NABA in Milan and earned an MFA in Sculpture from the Slade in London in 2023. Federico is co-founder of the artist-run space Porto Simpatica in Rome and the founder of Scoppio Project in Umbria, Italy. In 2021, he was nominated for the Ducato Prize in Italy. Recent group exhibitions include ‘Dumping Grounds’ at Hypha Studios, London; ‘Transitional Landscape’ at Bolle Showroom, Bergamo; ‘Great Expectations’ at Spazio Mensa, Rome; ‘stye in your eye’ at Split Gallery, London; The Perf. End in Milan. Upcoming exhibitions include at Salón ACME in Mexico City and a solo show at TOAST in Florence.

For all enquiries please contact: info@commonageprojects.com