Federico Ceruso, aka Pepemaniak, was born in Rome in 1991. Raised in a lively and fragmented metropolitan environment, he developed a strong attraction from a young age to the languages of visual culture, from comics to urban art, graphic design to the world of tattooing. His artistic name emerged as an “expanded” identity, almost like an underground pop superhero mask, capable of channeling his creative exuberance and provocative spirit.
After years of experimentation, during which his practice layered and traveled through street art, graphic design, tattooing, and painting, his artistic journey took a radical turn. He began moving toward increasingly immersive and installation-based forms, where light became both protagonist and symbolic medium.
The turning point came in recent years, marking a transformation that reflects a profound maturation on both technical and conceptual levels. Pepemaniak’s work has evolved into a more contemplative and universal visual language, where spirituality, symbolism, and collective connection intertwine. A clear example of this shift is Folgorato, a series of installations and sculptures inspired by the lightning bolt as both a visual and mythological entity, an ancestral symbol that becomes, at once, light, energy, and message.
Far from any polished aesthetic, his approach remains visceral and tactile, yet it is now enriched with a more meditative language, one that moves beyond pure provocation to embrace a form of emotional and archetypal communication. The colors remain vivid, the materials diverse (acrylics, resins, metals, LEDs), but the works take on a totemic, evocative quality, charged with tensions that speak of revelation, catharsis, and raw power.
Today, the lightning bolt continues to appear on fashion items, canvases, and large-scale installations designed for events and festivals. And it’s the lightning bolt itself that takes center stage in the project Pepemaniak will present at the end of August at one of the world’s most unique and celebrated art festivals: Burning Man.
The work Federico has been developing for some time is called Lightning Tower. Tall and slender, the installation is conceived as a modern totem, an object around which people will gather to share a moment together and celebrate a sense of community.
Through this environmental sculpture, Federico brings to the desert a vision that is both spiritual and pop, ritualistic and contemporary. The lightning bolt is not merely an aesthetic motif—it becomes a metaphor for illumination, for transformative power, for energy that flows and connects. A call to rediscover the sacred within the artistic experience.
We at Collater.al, together with Pepemaniak, will be sharing the journey of this project and the challenges faced by an artist participating in Burning Man, right here and on our Instagram profile. Stay tuned for the next episodes, and in the meantime, you can support Federico’s work through his crowdfunding campaign.
Photo cover: Gaia Marotta
