IL REZZO DELLA TERRA | SOPHIE KO
The research carried out by Sophie Ko (Tbilisi, 1981) focuses on the passage of time through the study of the transformation of matter, a conceptual practice that appeals to philosophy to develop theoretical thinking about the essence of reality.
What Ko accomplishes is not seemingly simple, a ‘dematerialization’ of matter itself to its essence, reassembling it into a different form than the original, ensuring a transition of state not only material but also conceptual.
Il rezzo della terra (2020) is a window that opens onto an otherworldly realm. The artwork was created using an actual wooden window frame, aged and with rusty hinges. In the background, it is visible a blue sky painted on a sheet. The space between the sheet and the window glass is then filled almost entirely with natural and raw materials: soil, stones, leaves, twigs, grass strands…
None of these materials are fixed, consequently free to move when subjected to shakes or, more simply, to gravity. Ko’s intention is to draw attention to the subject changes, to the transformation as a distinctive sign of the passage of time as well as founding concept of her research.
There is also a deliberate and sought after kind of symbolic relationship between the materials used and the final image of the artwork, which aims to deepen the relationship between essence and substance. The artist thus prompts the viewer to question the image of a particular object when it is extracted from its original context and placed in a completely different one, sometimes even related to other external agents.
The window thus becomes a narrative device in allowing the viewer to peer into the panorama of theoretical speculations and philosophical considerations, questioning the essence of reality and how it is basically represented.
Sophie Ko
Il rezzo della terra, 2020
Soil, grass, leaves, sheet, pigment, 115×180 cm
Courtesy Galleria de Foscherari – Bologna
Sophie Ko, Il rezzo della terra, 2020, detail
Soil, grass, leaves, sheet, pigment, 115×180 cm
Courtesy Galleria de Foscherari – Bologna ©
30/12/2023