ArteFiera Bologna

Sophie Ko (Tbilisi, 1981) lives and works in Milan. At the core of her artistic practice lies the concept of time, which is explored in its intense symbolic interaction with the materials she employs – mostly ashes of burnt images and pure pigments – and the images created. The change and instability of materials in relation to the flow of time are some of the constants of her artistic research. The Temporal Geographies, for example, provide an exemplification of a series of works eternally suspended between the act of creation and that of destruction, where the image is constantly subjected to a continuous process of modification through the slow and relentless collapse of the material of which it is made. Conceived through a conceptual and formal negotiation between sculpture and painting, these works stage “a bond made of weight, pressure, gravity, and the destruction of time on images, but also of formation, depth, return, and rebirth with respect to the passage of time.” Meaningful  metaphors of the caducity and mutability of existence, her works recall the trajectory of life that we trace, parallel to a slow but persistent collapsing movement.

Recent solo shows include: Postmasters Rome, with Marta Kucsora (2023); Museo Marino Marini, Florence (2022); EAST Galerie, Strasbourg (2022); Galleria de’ Foscherari, Bologna (2016 and 2021–22); BUILDINGBOX, Milan (2021); BUILDING Gallery, Milan (2020); Ca’Pesaro – International Gallery of Modern Art, Venice (2019); Renata Fabbri, Milan (2015 and 2018); and The OpenBox, Milan (2018). She has participated in group exhibitions at Palazzo Ducale di Gubbio (2022); Fondazione Malvina Menegaz, Castelbasso (2021); Albergo delle Povere, Palermo (promoted by RISO – Museum of Contemporary Art of Sicily, Palermo) (2021); Palazzo Barbò Torre Pallavicina, Bologna (2021); MAC – Contemporary Art Museum, Lissone (2021); and Renata Fabbri, Milan (2020), among others. In 2016, Sophie Ko won the Lissone Prize for Painting organized by MAC – Contemporary Art Museum, Lissone. 

Delving into the interstice of everyday experience and inspiring by unexpected encounters with common objects, the works of Serena Vestrucci (Milan, 1986) interrogate and transform the ordinary via a diverse range of artistic processes and language impositions. Fascinated by artifacts, situations, images, and materials from the everyday (like flags, crayons, fried calamari, seasonal fruits), the artist turns these elements into the subject and the feedstock of her artistic experience. By altering and shifting them to spheres of action different from their original context, Vestrucci focalizes on these elements, transforming their appearances and filling them with new connotations, in an instantaneous and illusory poetic, barely visible and yet only apparently simple. The outcome are works that, in their visual immediacy, overturn the perception of the artwork, modifying its semantic value and inviting the viewer to reimagine how we observe and interpret the surroundings. Imbued with a subtle irony toward contemporaneity, Vestrucci’s works probe the obviousness of small things, giving voice to what is often hidden, forgotten or sidelined. Through a playful, yet direct and provocative language, the artist elevates the ambiguity to a foundational element for a more accurate understanding of reality.

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, she moved to Venice, where she earned a master’s degree in Visual Arts at the IUAV University of Venice.

Selected solo exhibitions include: Renata Fabbri, Milan (2021); Gallery of Modern Art, Verona (2017); Archaeological Museum Antonio Salinas, Palermo (2017); Marsèlleria Permanent Exhibition, Milan (2016); Villa Croce Museum of Contemporary Art, Genoa (2015); and Otto Zoo Gallery, Milan (2013). Her work has been featured in group shows at Stefan Gierowski Foundation, Warsaw (2022); Made in Cloister Foundation, Naples (2022); Imago Mundi Foundation, Treviso (2021); Pastificio Cerere Foundation, Rome (2020); Villa Croce Museum of Contemporary Art, Genoa (2020 and 2015); Palazzo Del Medico, Carrara (2020); Michetti Foundation Museum, Francavilla al Mare, Chieti (2020); Casa Testori, Novate Milanese (2019); Blitz, Valletta, Republic of Malta (2019); Italian Cultural Institute, New York (2018); Italian Cultural Institute, London (2018); Santa Maria della Scala Museum, Siena (2018); Palazzo Reale, Milan (2017 and 2015); Bevilacqua La Masa Foundation, Venice (2017, 2012 and 2010); FRISE Künstlerhaus, Hamburg, (2014); Casa Masaccio, San Giovanni Valdarno (2014); Sandretto Re Rebaudengo Foundation, Turin (2014); GAM Gallery of Modern Art, Milan (2012); Venetian Institute of Sciences, Humanities and Arts, Venice (2012); and Stedelijk Museum, The Netherlands (2011). In 2017 she won the 18th edition of Premio Cairo and she was selected by the City of Milan to conceive and produce a permanent work in the frame of the public art commission ArtLine Milano.

Lulù Nuti (1988) lives between Rome and Paris. Expanding from sculpture and installation to drawing, Lulù Nuti’s practice is based on a strong belief in the intelligence of matter, in its power of being a vehicle for sensitive information, which go beyond the limits of words and language. Her work depicts the feeling of responsibility and powerlessness that are engendered by the age we live in and affect human beings. She experiments with various construction materials, creating sculptures and installations that dialogue with space.

After graduating from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux Arts de Paris in 2012, Lulù Nuti has exhibited in Italy and abroad in public and private institutions including Biwako Biennale (Fairy Tale, Japan, 2012);  La Panacée (MFW, MO.CO., Montpellier, 2018); Istituto Italiano di Cultura in New Delhi (Living in the Chtulucene, India, 2019); Museo CAMUSAC (Rilevamenti 2, Cassino, 2020) and in private galleries including Galleria Alessandra Bonomo (Part 1, Rome, 2017); Galerie Italienne (La Musée, Paris, 2020); Galleria Renata Fabbri (SOTTO, Milano, 2022). In 2022 her sculpture Too much heat, nothing to eat travels around the world ( IIC New-York, USA; IIC Seoul, Corea; Changijang Museum of Contemporary Art, China ) with We Love Art, vision and creativity Made in Italy, a project promoted by Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and CDP, curated by Ludovico Pratesi and Marco Bassan.

Solo shows include the site-specific exhibition Sistema, at archeological site Case Romane del Celio (Rome, 2015) and Calcare il Mondo at Galerie Chloé Salgado (Paris, 2018). In 2018 she founded the artistic duo LU.PA together with Pamela Pintus, an artistic identity that operates through performance actions and site-specific works.