Mauro Ffortissimo calls himself a “piano liberator.”

More precisely, the native Argentinian, a 24-year Coastsider and co-founder of the Enso gallery in Half Moon Bay, has made an art out of taking apart the complex construction that makes up a piano in order to play the music he can find in the parts that remain.

Another reason he deconstructs pianos is to make art out of the innards of a piano. He has practiced “piano liberation” for 25 years.

Mauro Ffortissimo coaxes music from the strings of a '��piano libertado'�� at the Enso gallery. On the shelf behind him are pieces of a piano that comprise his ongoing exhibit at the gallery.

“I was cleaning a piano and never put it back (together),” he said. “I’ve always been fascinated by the inside of pianos.”

His current show, an almost museum-like exhibit spotlighting different pieces of the instrument, is on display through December at the 131 Kelly Ave., Half Moon Bay gallery.

Propped up by wire on small display mounts are such piano parts as pedals, hammers, keys, a collage of strings or pads. Hammers affixed to wires make up a hanging mobile. Along the wall are pages from a score of Bach inventions, with bars of music intertwined so the score looks like a work of art.

“Everything I have done is with parts of a piano,” said Ffortissimo proudly. “I take pianos totally apart and make sculptures with the keys, strings, pedals.”

Ffortissimo has also displayed other forms of artworks: metalwork with copper, or watercolors, at Enso or at other Bay Area galleries. He is also skilled at playing the instrument, and can be heard every Wednesday evening at the keyboard at Cetrella, and also sporadically at other Bay Area clubs.

The pianos he uses for his art are old instruments that are beyond repair and are often given to him, he said.

Besides the sculptural art that he creates with piano parts, Ffortissimo also gives the instruments a “second life” musically, and that is where the liberation aspect comes in.

He had studied classical piano for many years but found, while emphasizing sight-reading in his study, he could not improvise. He also felt limited, ultimately, by the structure of fixed piano scales.

But in taking pianos apart, he focused on the strings. After removing the hammers, he found potential in the 250 strings that combine to make up the 88 notes of the piano.

Taking the keys out of the mix, he found he felt “freed” from the structural confines, and able to make his own kind of music.

To do that, he plucks or hits the bass and center-range strings for a sliding or glissando-like effect, and gently taps, squeezes or pulls the slender upper-range strings for a more shimmery, wind-like effect. Key to his music is the violin rosin he applies to his fingers before playing.

“Not only do I make things with piano parts, I get to the inside and play the strings” like one would on a harp, he said. “By removing the keys I end up with a new instrument that allows me free play, away from the 12-tone western scale.”

His first experience with piano liberation was a performance art-type show in San Francisco’s SOMA district in 1987. He took apart a piano and then splashed the pieces with white latex paint.

Audience reactions were mixed. Some were not happy about being splashed with white paint. Ffortissimo had to repaint the entire hallway floor. And one young woman, a piano student, was “actually a bit upset at the travesty of destroying such a sophisticated and elegant instrument.”

But to Ffortissimo, he is giving pianos a chance for a second curtain call.

“I give old pianos a second life, now that I’ve put them to bed,” he said.

Enso can be reached at 726-1409.