Giorgio Vigna. Cosmografia (Cosmography)

Giorgio Vigna. Cosmografia [Cosmography], is the artist's solo exhibition, which, in the spaces of BUILDING TERZO PIANO, from January 30th to February 22nd, 2025, is presented as a two-dimensional and three-dimensional fresco describing a world suspended between reality and imagination. It all begins with water: cosmic water source of life, running water always in motion, solidified water as seen in the transparencies of glass. Water is the gateway into the micro and macrocosm.

The aquatypes Cosmografie [Cosmographies] (1982-2023) draw extraordinary astronomical geographies, maps in which to get lost, details that absorb the gaze, immensities that disorient perceptions. They are wide-open windows on the universe, views of micro-galaxies and stringy comets, pages from a book of imaginary astronomy to leaf through while chasing primordial memories. From the two-dimensional sheet three-dimensional organic forms sprout, sparks of light, transparent meteorites, bubbles of an infinite sea in continuous transformation: water regenerates itself in the glass announcing unusual transformations and new articulations of circular time. Regarding his relationship with nature and its possible evocations the artist declares, "I am interested in artifice in the highest meaning of the term, an alteration of formal and cognitive processes that leads to wonder".

The materials used here are paper, glass and, very much present, copper – a hidden protagonist also in the etchings and aquatints Vulcano [Volcano] and Cosmo [Cosmos] (2023). Copper, in its alchemical encounter with glass, foams in myriads of imprisoned little spheres in the work Sasso [Stone] (2023), or it treasures - like a votive cup - the transparent glass of the work Acqua [Water] (2018), but it is especially in the new series Morfemi [Morphemes] (2023) that it unleashes its transformative potential. From the Cosmografie [Cosmographies] (1982-2023) arise living and agile forms that multiply, exploring the elsewhere like countless eyes stretching out toward the infinite. They are particle of water and fire woven of copper: with copper the stems are made, or copper-like is the bronze stone that creates the structure of these strange creatures that move on vertical and horizontal surfaces, as if they emerge from the depths of the sea, or from a mysterious celestial vault.

Giorgio Vigna accompanies us on a journey that reveals the authenticity of a profound relationship of the human being as part of nature merged in the cosmos, where, once again, the multi-dimensional micro and macro exchange places without interruption.

Biographical notes

Giorgio Vigna was born in Verona in 1955, and train himself artistically between his hometown, Venice, Rome, and Milan. He is an artist who, on the edge between reality and imagination, creates natural forms capable of manifesting primary and primordial aspects: adventures of earth and water, fire and wind in which natural and artificial, poor and precious are combined. Vigna moves on the border between the real and imaginary worlds, between what is and what appears. His works, from sculptures to jewelry, from works on paper to installations, reflect the width and depth of his constant research. He uses various materials including glass, metals and paper, always treated in new and surprising ways. Vigna explores them and seeks to reveal their hidden possibilities. The forms are primary, expressions of the elements he works with. Strong and natural, universal and timeless, rich in symbolic values. Giorgio Vigna created the site-specific work, installed in 2005, La Radura [The Clearing] for Nancy Olnick and Giorgio Spanu; the piece launched the Olnick Spanu Art Program. In 2013, the Museo di Castelvecchio in Verona hosted the solo exhibition Stati Naturali [Natural States], for which Giorgio Vigna created, for Carlo Scarpa's fountain, the permanent glass installation Acquaria donated to the city of Verona in 2021 on the occasion of the exhibition Lapilli in the Sculpture Gallery during the centenary of Licisco Magagnato's birth.... read the rest of the article»