Cosima Montavoci / Lorenzo Passi – Ex Voto 2023

“Vetrina” Vino Vero presenta un lavoro site-specific di Cosima Montavoci and Lorenzo Passi.

Comunicato stampa

For the ninth installment of "Vetrina" Vino Vero presents a site-specific work by Cosima Montavoci and Lorenzo Passi, two artists living and working in Venice who founded the collective Mollified in 2022. Cosima Montavoci's work focuses on existential themes such as memory, death, and the passage of time. Lorenzo Passi's work stems from his relationships with people and places around him, reworking and representing experiences. Both artists have explored the search for objects that, when collected and repurposed, transform and take on new life. United by their experimentation and research into glass, Cosima and Lorenzo have collaborated on several projects over the past few years, including this one presented for “Vetrina”.

The title "Ex Voto" is derived from the Latin phrase "ex voto suscepto," meaning "from the vow undertaken," and refers to an object or gift that a believer presents as a votive offering in gratitude for receiving a grace. Historically, most ex votos have been connected to the realm of health and the human body, often representing organs in need of healing. Drawing from traditional iconography, Montavoci and Passi represent a series of metal and glass objects that depict parts of the human body. This representation includes elements beyond the classical anatomical tradition, such as skulls, legs, breasts, male genitals, hearts, and brains.

Vetrina presents a series of exhibitions curated by Mara Sartore for Vino Vero and in collaboration with Lightbox: on a quarterly basis, internationally renowned artists working on the theme of nature are invited to present their site-specific works in the window of the wine club adjacent to the wine bar.

Cosima Montavoci was born in Venice in 1988. After spending a decade in the Netherlands, where she graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academie, she recently returned to live and work in the lagoon. Cosima Montavoci's work often delves into profound existential themes such as death, creation, and memory. She enjoys seeking out and investigating forgotten small things that people often overlook or avoid discussing. She refers to these elements as "human traces" or "honest fossils." The main characteristic of her work is to encourage the acceptance and digestion of difficult situations or topics through an ironic attitude that accompanies each of her creations. Cosima Montavoci believes that her own hands aid her in thinking, and for this reason, the manual component is a very evident feature of her works.

Lorenzo Passi was born in Milan in 1985 and currently lives and works in Venice. He studied in Italy, Finland, and the United States. His passion for glass began in 2005 with his apprenticeship in Murano. He made his debut as an artist in 2013, and since then, his work has been featured in both Italian and international exhibitions. Lorenzo Passi's projects are based on the relationships he establishes with people and places around him, reworking and representing real experiences. Sometimes he comes across objects that he collects and repurposes, combining them with glass to transform them into symbols that interpret and alter the context in which they are found. It's the environment itself that inspires him to suggest the idea that gives life to the composition of the artwork. Through his research, the artist delves into both subjective and objective memory, using recognisable objects as inspiration, drawing from dreams, nature, and even various forms of alienation.