Fabrizio Cotognini
Pencils, ink, white lead, mylar and 24k gold, on original 18th-century engravings, cm 70x100x12 each, and artist's book, cm 25x190.
The winning work, Aurora, was awarded with the following motivation:
"For the ability to harmonize in a contemporary key art history and popular culture through the filter of alchemy, literature, cultured painting and, last but not least, beauty."
Fabrizio Cotognini born in 1983 in Macerata. He lives and works in Civitanova Marche (MC).
Exhibitions include:
2018 Evidence, a new state of art, National gallery, Tbilisi (Georgia).
2017 Disio. Nostalgia of the future, Italian Cultural Institute, Caracas (Venezuela).
Starting from ancient original engravings taken from famous works by great masters such as Guercino and Guido Reni, Fabrizio Cotognini elaborates new icons inspired by literature and alchemy. In Aurora, the artist in fact intervenes on ancient prints taken from the frescoes of the allegory of Aurora, both painted in Rome, by Guercino, in the Villa Ludovisi, and by Reni, in the Casino dell'Aurora Pallavicini.
Cotognini uses pencil, ink, white lead and gold leaf to bring to light the geometries hidden in the two compositions, also introducing words, drawings and other images, taken from popular culture, into his work. An example of this are the recurring flowers in the two engravings, also included in pencil in the artist's book, which constitutes the third compositional element of the work, which combine to form an imaginary circle, revealing an underlying symbology: the natural and unchanging cycle of time.