Giovanni Tommasi Ferroni

Giovanni Tommasi Ferroni was born in Rome on November 12, 1967, into a family of artists from Tuscany. Besides his father Riccardo, the family’s artistic connection includes grandfather Leone, uncle Marcello (both talented painters and sculptors) and sister Elena, a refined paintress with whom Tommasi Ferroni held joint exhibitions early on in his career. He showed a marked inclination for drawing since early childhood, frequenting his father’s atelier form the age of eleven and taking lessons in drawing from his uncle Marcello during the summers in the latter’s sculpture studio at Pietrasanta .

He made his first painting at the age of sixteen, but his career as a painter started after he finished high school in 1986 when he joined his father’s atelier and studied history of art at the Rome University.

His first one-man exhibition took place in 1991 at “il Gabbiano” in Rome. In that same year he attended the Chicago international fair and took part in Le conchiglie (“The Shells”), an exhibition at the Lilia Leoni gallery in Rome. In 1992, he was present at the Bologna fair and took part in the exhibition Cara Duchessa (“Dear Duchess”) held at the Borgobello gallery in Parma. In 1994, he showed his works at the Philip Mouwes Art Gallery in Amsterdam and took part in the exhibition Un sogno che cambia il mondo (“A Dream that Changes the World”), organised by the social affairs department of the Prime Minister’s Office. In 1995, he was again in Rome with a one-man exhibition at “l’Indicatore”, also taking part in the exhibition W il cinema! (“Long Live cinema!”), organised by “il Gabbiano”. Starting 1996 his exhibitions were principally held abroad, especially at the Steltman galleries in Amsterdam and New York, where he took part in the exhibition “European Figurative Art”. The Steltman galleries hosted exhibitions in Amsterdam in 1997 and in New York in 1998. Shows were also held in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005 again in Amsterdam.