Inspired by Claude Monet’s late water lily landscapes – where vision dissolves into abstraction – Je Marchais Pieds Nus Dans L’Étang reinterprets the pond as a sculptural environment, where organic forms, shifting reflections, and enigmatic creatures emerge within a dynamic spatial composition. It is more than a collection of individual unique works of art but a singular cohesive installation, where each sculptural element contributes to a fluid, immersive experience, evoking the sensation of wading barefoot through an imagined landscape.
At the heart of the installation, cast white bronze and hand-painted sculpted Murano glass create a dialogue between depth and transparency. These materials capture the essence of water – its density, fluidity, and fleeting reflections. Light refracts across surfaces, generating an interplay of opacity and translucency, echoing the ever-changing motion of a pond where creatures drift, dissolve, and reappear.
“The water lily, a motif both serene and restless, returns in elongated, distorted forms – floating, stretching, dissolving into their surroundings. Their stems, surreal and skeletal, extend beyond the real, as if reaching for something unseen. Elusive creatures emerge from the space, shifting between abstraction and organic presence. The suggestion of legs, elongated and fluid, wading through this imagined pond, anchors the installation in movement – blurring the boundary between sculpture and environment, between presence and absence.” – Vincenzo De Cotiis
With Je Marchais Pieds Nus Dans L’Étang, De Cotiis continues his exploration of material transformation, creating an environment where sculpture, light, and memory converge. The installation exists in a state of flux – where forms emerge and dissolve, and perception shifts with each movement through the space. As anticipation builds for the larger exhibition in New York, select details of the works will be revealed, preserving the element of discovery and allowing the full experience to unfold at Carpenters Workshop Gallery in November 2025.
For a curated soundtrack that complements the exhibition’s serene ambience, visitors can listen to the specially selected playlist here.
