SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Carpenters Workshop Gallery | San Francisco is presenting En Plein Air, a solo gallery exhibition of works by Italian architect and artist Vincenzo de Cotiis, from the 18th of January through the 28th of June 2019. The exhibition is comprised of new pieces from his latest body of work.
En Plein Air – French for ‘outdoors’ – relates to the movement in art history when artists, at the end of the 19th century, left their studios to paint outdoors. The collection therefore refers to both painting history and nature, in a subtle and sophisticated creative mix.
Featuring 20 furniture-sculptures handmade by Vincenzo and a team of Italian artisans, the collection of seating, lighting, tables, cabinets and bookshelves is an aesthetical ‘tour de force’ combining semiprecious stones, Murano glass, recycled resin and cast brass. Each piece shows a special care for detail and opulence.
It is a manifesto of pure naturalistic inspiration. A quintessence of everything that the movements of the early 20th century had established. The chromaticism of the materials draw from Pointillism; Pre-Cubist geometries and organic expressionist schemes alternate in perpetual rhythm, de-structuring the classical canons, forging them into the contemporary world. A new iconographic and morphological alphabet composed of signs that take hold of the past just as they do the future - Vincenzo de Cotiis.
The resins are painted, the Murano glass, similar to pre-Cubist forms, explodes inside a tridimensionality becoming natural mineral joints. Providing a contemporary interpretation, De Cotiis’s furniture are defined by the power of materiality and refined craftsmanship.
Vincenzo De Cotiis was born in 1958 in Gonzaga, Italy. He studied architecture at the Milan Politecnico and founded his studio and gallery in 1997.
The beauty of the patina generated by time is the leitmotiv that is reflected both in his architectural and interior designs of residential and commercial projects throughout the world. A research that is based on a contemporary appropriation of recycled materials, often marked by time and wear, and reinterpreted through the integration of new and precious materials. The creative process is the outcome of a constant intellectual and artistic layering, fuelled by a precise artisan lymph.
An aesthetic infused with “perfect imperfection” is obtained by initial decomposition followed by recomposition, passing through the use of new materials and their expressive potential, thus generating works that recall nature in the abstract.
Vincenzo De Cotiis is considered one of the protagonists of the international contemporary design scene. His works, highly collectible unique pieces, are exhibited in his gallery in Milan, and at leading international design fairs, such as Designs Miami / Basel, PAD London, Design Dubai, TEFAF and Art Paris.
