Artist: Vincenzo De Cotiis

Carpenters Workshop Gallery New York presents Je Marchais Pieds Nus Dans L’Étang, an immersive art installation by Vincenzo De Cotiis that explores the interplay between materiality, light, and nature. Following its preview at Milan Design Week in April 2025, this new solo exhibition is inspired by Claude Monet’s late water lily landscapes, in which vision dissolves into abstraction.

Je Marchais Pieds Nus Dans L’Étang (meaning ‘I Walked Barefoot in the Pond’) reinterprets the pond as a sculptural environment, where organic forms, shifting reflections and enigmatic creatures emerge within a dynamic spatial composition. A collection of individual unique works of art come together as a singular cohesive installation, where each sculptural element contributes to a fluid, immersive experience, evoking the sensation of wading barefoot through an imagined landscape.

De Cotiis’ use of cast white bronze and hand-painted sculpted Murano glass lies at the heart of this exhibition. Creating 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 artist sees the water lily as a motif that is both serene and restless, appearing in distorted forms with surreal, skeletal stems. As they float, stretch and dissolve into their surroundings, these elusive creatures shift between abstraction and organic presence. With works that recall elongated, fluid legs wading through an imagined pond, the installation is anchored in movement and blurs the boundary between sculpture and environment.

With the opening of Je Marchais Pieds Nus Dans L’Étang in New York, 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, shifting perception with each movement through space. A specially curated soundtrack complements the exhibition’s serene ambiance.