Royal Purple

Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Haley Smith UW-Whitewater professor Andre Ferrella is the creator of an art style called "The Living Picture," which uses micoorganisms to create pieces of art.

UW-Whitewater Art Lecturer Andre Ferrella has invented multiple styles and ideas for his artwork.

Using the title "Artist of the Spirit," Ferrella has challenged the old set of ideals used in art and moved into his own form.

From using plastics to obscure pictures, Ferrella has changed the way that many artists look at the production of photography.

Many now use digital photography to enhance and change their works instead of simply taking a dramatic photograph of something ordinary Ferrella's art utilizes these new styles, but has taken them to a totally different level.

Ferrella plans to open an art exhibition studio, titled "Galleria Della Ferrella," in his own home in Monona. Before he can do this he plans to get to work on his current project title "Rise of the Fallen," a tribute to the 4,000 soldiers who have died in the war. He'll use a spirit box for every one of them, the faces of all of the 4,000 dead, as soon as he can obtain a location and funding.

Ferrella, now 54, started in art at a very young age. Calling himself a natural, at 12 he painted a portrait of a youthful, almost cherub-like Jesus. Later he moved into the masterful works following Rembrandt and Peter Paul Reubens, painting still life portraits of daily objects and strikingly well-done self portraits. Being both a painter and photographer has given Ferrella a wider range to work with, and starting early and continuing strong throughout his life has kept up the same idea.

Ferrella teaches two classes on campus. The class is designed to take students who don't know a lot about photography and teach them everything that he knows in one semester. A common class project is to take a massive photo negative and use light to draw an enormous image of all the students' own work on a large pallet.

Ferrella has been commended by scientific groups nationwide for his creation of "The Living Picture" style. Ferrella uses photonegatives and microorganisms to create intricate pieces of art. A gel that covers photonegative film is eaten away by bacteria, producing images that defy explanation. He also "paints" on photonegatives with a light, causing strange and dazzling shapes to appear in his art.

Ferrella uses his art to connect to a more spiritual side of human existence.
"There is no greater purpose for an artist than to convey the divine," Ferrella said. "Using art to convey divinity is a truly amazing thing."

Check out all of his artwork and more at his Web site livingmuseum.com.

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