Gravitas and aesthetics, layered materials and organic geometries – the Carpenters Workshop Gallery presented a new body of work created by Vincenzo De Cotiis with the name ‘Éternel' 

This is a collection that combines gravitas and beauty, through the language of cataclysm and the patina of decay. Éternel featured sculptural pieces that seek to forget functionality and submit to influences of a distant memory of the East.

His expressively mottled and scarred surfaces are charged with the feeling of relics, things which have survived the cataclysms and damages of history, even if that history extends no further than his production process. When De Cotiis uses aluminum it looks like it has been extracted from the ground, melted and cast – it almost carries the smell of carbon vapours and the sear of flames into the room.

‘Éternel was born from emotions that I’ve felt there, and my memories of lanterns and minimal forms of architecture that I’ve sought to transcribe in contemporary works. I wanted to convey the iridescent landscape of Japanese cherry blossoms, how the color isn’t uniform but moves from pink to blue and green. Reflections are another important element as I saw many reflections, not just in the landscape, but in the cities where one has constant reflections from technology. And I tried to represent Japanese ceramics by manually coloring recycled fiberglass with those nuances, and depicting it like a Japanese painting. ‘ explains Vincenzo De Cotiis.