CARESSING WALLS to K - apickgallery.com

CARESSING WALLS to K

Esmeralda KosmatopoulosYour plants are an orchaid of pomegranates2021, fotografia, tritticocm 60x40

Esmeralda KosmatopoulosMy own vineyard I have no kept 2021, fotografia, tritticocm 40x26

Esmeralda KosmatopoulosYour lips drop switness as the honeycomb2021, fotografia, tritticocm 40x26

Esmeralda KosmatopoulosMy beloved is to me a grape from the vineyards of Engedi2021, fotografia, tritticocm 40x26

Esmeralda KosmatopoulosI live, I die2021, installation, metal, digital print on fabric, bricks, ropevariable dimensions

Esmeralda KosmatopoulosI’ve dreamed of you so much2021, installation, metal, embrodery on tulle, plaster, concrete, ed 1/3 + 2 apvariable dimensions

Esmeralda KosmatopoulosYou are burning us2021, installation, metal, bricks, charcoal, digi-tal print on pvcvariable dimensions

A PICK GALLERY via Bernardino Galliari 15/C, 10125 Turin - IT / M. +39 349 3509087 [email protected] / www.apickgallery.com / Tuesday-Saturday 3.30-8 pm

CARESSING WALLS to K. Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos

Inaugurazione martedì 14 settembre 2021, ore 18

A PICK GALLERY presenta martedì 14 settembre alle ore 18, in via Galliari 15/C, la mostra Caressing walls, personale di Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos. Esmeralda Kosmatoupoulos (Thessaloniki, 1982) è un'artista concettuale che indaga due grandi tematiche, il linguaggio e l'identità, attraverso diverse tecniche. Nata in Grecia e cresciuta a Parigi, ora vive fra il Cairo, Parigi e New York e il suo lavoro è incentrato sulla memoria, personale e collettiva, che si trova alla base della storia e della cultura. L'esperienza personale entra preponderante nel suo lavoro e costruisce connessioni tra passato e presente, alla ricerca dei più piccoli denominatori comuni che colleghino il tempo e lo spazio all’interno dell’esperienza umana. Attraverso le installazioni e una serie di lavori fotografici in mostra l’artista rilegge alcuni versi del “Cantico dei cantici”, testo contenuto nella Bibbia ebraica, composto da otto poemi d'amore in forma colloquiale tra un uomo (Salomone) e una donna (Sulammita). Il poema inizia con l'espressione di desiderio della donna per il suo amante e continua con un dialogo tra loro. Dai versi scaturiscono opere, ne è un esempio "la mia amata è per me come un grappolo di Cipro in fiore nei vigneti di En Gedi" che diventa il trittico My beloved is to me a grape from the vineyards of Engedi dove il cibo è metafora ed esprime amore e attenzioni sensuali. In Caressing walls l'artista approfondisce le relazioni attraverso il tatto, il senso maggiormente usato, il più istintivo, il senso che annulla le distanze tra noi e l’altro. Nell’epoca digitale la sensazione è quella di perdere il contatto; di relazionarsi spesso al di là di uno schermo, di guardare e interagire attraverso spazi virtuali. Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos rilegge il gesto comune di accarezzare qualcosa o qualcuno, esplorando le varie sfumature del tatto e dei suoi limiti. Ogni scoperta avviene attraverso la pelle, vista sia come un mezzo di comunicazione, sia come il confine del nostro corpo. Dal piacere al dolore, le opere in mostra elaborano la vulnerabilità umana.


La mostra inaugura all'interno di Exhibito, evento che vede la partecipazione di diverse realtà torinesi distribuite in città, tra gallerie e spazi culturali, dal 14 al 18 settembre 2021 e sarà visibile fino al 30 ottobre 2021. Nata in Grecia, Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos vive e lavora tra Il Cairo, Parigi e New York; è un’artista concettuale multidisciplinare che lavora intorno al concetto di linguaggio e identità. Il suo lavoro è stato esposto in gallerie e istituzioni internazionali tra cui Times Art Museum (Pechino, Cina), La Panacée (Montpellier, Francia), Gallerie delle Prigioni - Collezioni Luciano Benetton (Treviso, Italia), Somerset House (Londra, UK), Musée Zadkine (Parigi, Francia), Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Copenhagen, Danimarca), Künstlerhaus Wien (Vienna, Austria), Kunsthal Aarhus (Aarhus, Danimarca), Palazzo delle Arti Napoli (Napoli, Italia), AMA | Art Museum of the Americas (DC, USA), French Institute of Athens (Atene, Grecia), CICA Museum (Gimpo-si, Korea) tra gli altri. Le prossime mostre includono il Powerlong Museum (Shanghai, Cina) e la 5a Biennale di Istanbul (Istanbul, Turchia). Kosmatopoulos ha anche lavorato in collaborazione con istituzioni socialmente impegnate come l’Organizzazione degli Stati americani (Washington DC, Stati Uniti), la Fondazione Kayani (Beirut, Libano), Unicef Blue Dot (Atene, Grecia), One Happy Family (Lesbo, Grecia) e il Museum Louis Braille (Francia) per creare installazioni su larga scala che aumentino la consapevolezza sui temi sociali.


CARESSING WALLS to K. Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos

Opening Tuesday Sempterber 14th 2021, 6pm

A PICK GALLERY presents Caressing walls (to K.), a solo exhibition of the artist Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos, opening on Tuesday September 14th, in Via Galliari 15/c. Esmeralda Kosmatoupoulos (Thessaloniki, 1982) is a conceptual artist that explores two great topics - language and identity - through the use of different techniques. Born in Greece and raised in Paris, she currently lives and works between Cairo, Paris and New York. Her work examines the definition and construction of memory, both personal and collective, which lies at the base of history and culture. Personal experiences enter her work preponderantly and build connections between the past and the present, in search of the smallest common denominators that connect time and space within the human experience. Through her installations and a series of photographic works on display, the artist rereads some verses of the "Cantico dei Cantici" (Song of Solomon), a text from the Hebrew Bible, composed of eight love poems written in colloquial form between a man (Solomon) and a woman (Sulammita). The poem begins with the woman's expression of desire for her lover and continues with a dialogue between the two. The artist's works spring from the verses, an example is "My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-gedi" that becomes the triptych My beloved is to me a grape from the vineyards of Engedi, in wich food is a metaphor and expresses love and sensual attention. In Caressing walls the artist studies relationships through touch, our most instinctive and used sense; the sense that eliminates the distance between us and the other. In the digital age the feeling of losing touch is often present; having to relate behind a screen, to observe and interact through virtual spaces. Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos rereads the common gesture of stroking something or someone, exploring the various nuances of touch and its limits.Every discovery takes place through the skin, seen both as a means of communication and as the boundary of our body. From pleasure to pain, the works on display process human vulnerability.

The exhibition opens within Exhibi.to, an event that sees the participation of different art entities in Turin distributed throughout the city, including galleries and cultural spaces, from Semptember 14th to 18th 2021, and will be visible until October 30th 2021. Her works have been exhibited in international galleries and institutions including the Times Art Museum (Beijing, China), La Panacée (Montpellier, France), Prison Galleries - Luciano Collections Benetton (Treviso, Italy), Somerset House (London, UK), Musée Zadkine (Paris, France), Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Copenhagen, Denmark), Künstlerhaus Wien (Vienna, Austria), Kunsthal Aarhus (Aarhus, Denmark), Palazzo delle Arti Napoli (Naples, Italy), AMA | Art Museum of the Americas (DC, USA), French Institute of Athens (Athens, Greece), CICA Museum (Gimpo-si, Korea) among others. Upcoming exhibitions include the Powerlong Museum (Shanghai, China) and the 5th Istanbul Biennial (Istanbul, Turkey). Kosmatopoulos has also worked in partnership with socially engaged institutions such as the Organization of American States (Washington DC, United States), the Foundation Kayani (Beirut, Lebanon), Unicef Blue Dot (Athens, Greece), One Happy Family (Lesbos, Greece) and the Museum Louis Braille (France) in creating large-scale installations that increase awareness on social issues.


CARESSING WALLS Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos “Canticum canticorum meum” is a serie of photo triptychs directly inspired by excerpts from the Old Testament’s “Canticum canticorum Salomonis” (Song of the songs of Solomon). Written around the 3rd century BCE, the “Canticum canticorum Salomonis” is thought to be an allegorical representation of the relationship between God and the beleivers. However, far from talking about faith and spirituality, its literal subject is the physical love between a man and a woman. “Canticum canticorum Salomonis” takes the form of a dialogue between the two lovers expressing their sexual longing: from the courting to the consuming of their passion. When reading this text, Kosmatopoulos noticed that within the sensual praising, yearning and invitations to enjoy, the glossary of physical touch was strangely missing. Rather than using crude words and objective descriptions, the two lovers preferred to play with enchanting metaphors about fruits and other delicacies pleasant the mouth to describe their sexual intimacy. Each sentence was inviting us to use our own imagination and engage our senses to grasp its true meaning. “Canticum canticorum meum” represents the artist’s personal imaginary journey thru that biblical text ; a journey where she and her life partner become the main characters of the story; a journey where the grapes, apples, figs, pomegranate, milk and honey from its erotic metaphors act as a bridge between two worlds: literal and abstract, touch and text, skin and paper. Each triptych starts with the hand of one of the lovers touching an aliment and ends with the same hand touching the word that signifies that aliment. Framed between them, lays the heart of the erotic metaphor: the hand, transformed into the food itself, finally comes to touch a part of the body of the other lover.

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CARESSING WALLS to K - apickgallery.com