poem without word

Sophie Ko (Tbilisi, 1981) lives and works in Milan. At the heart 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: Renata Fabbri, Milan (2015, 2018 and 2023); Contemporary Locus, Bergamo (2023); 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); 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. 

Imbued with a subtle irony toward contemporaneity, the works of Serena Vestrucci (Milan, 1986) 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.

Selected solo exhibitions include: Casa Gramsci, Turin; Galleria Renata Fabbri, Milan; Galleria FuoriCampo, Siena; Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Verona; Museo Archeologico Salinas, Palermo; Marsèlleria Permanent Exhibition, Milan; Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Villa Croce, Genova; Galleria Ottozoo, Milan. Selected group exhibitions include: Palazzo Ducale, La Biennale di Gubbio; Palazzo Merulana, Rome; Palazzo Grillo, Genova; Museo MAXXI, Rome; Fondazione Stefan Gierowski, Warsaw; Fondazione Made in Cloister, Napoli; Fondazione Imago Mundi, Treviso; Fondazione Pastificio Cerere, Rome; Palazzo Reale, Milan; Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin; Galleria d’Arte Moderna, Milan; Palazzo Del Medico, Carrara; Casa Testori, Novate Milanese; Blitz, Valletta, Malta; IIC, New York; IIC, London; IIC, Warsaw; IIC, Cracovia; Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice; FRISE Künstlerhaus, Hamburg; Casa Masaccio, San Giovanni Valdarno and Stedelijk Museum, The Netherlands. 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.