Roberto Cuoghi joins Hauser & Wirth gallery, will be presented in New York

Hauser & Wirth Gallery, one of the world’s leading galleries, has announced that Roberto Cuoghi (Modena, 1973), one of the leading artists on the Italian contemporary scene, has joined the artists it represents. The Swiss gallery will hold the presentation of his work at theArt Show, the contemporary art fair held annually in New York, from February 28 to March 3, 2019.

Roberto Cuoghi is an artist who eludes definitions: during his career he has ventured into painting, sculpture, sound installations, ceramics, and much more (one recalls in particular his extraordinary work at the Italian Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale), with no one medium or language prevailing over another. Cuoghi’s work is distinguished by its emphasis on processes and changes in the physical as a manifestation of a psychological metamorphosis: through careful research, Cuoghi uses systems proper to tradition, or conducts scientific experiments to reproduce bio-chemical reactions in the materials he uses, to create methodologies in which he alternates between the work of an archaeologist, inventor or engineer, which aim to expand the limits of the known and the understandable. The Modenese artist is most famous for his experiments involving the processes of creating works: he himself develops ever new techniques and methodologies to bring his works to life. And just as often Cuoghi uses his own body as a material: one recalls, in particular, his celebrated performance in 1998, as part of which he ate, dressed, and acted like a middle-aged man to literally transform himself (then 25 years old) into a 67-year-old in order to try to resemble his father.

For the 2019 edition of the Art Show, Hauser & Wirth will exhibit some of Cuoghi’s most recent sculptures: in particular, New York audiences will be able to view works from the Putiferio series (2016), commissioned by the DESTE Foundation on the Greek island of Hydra. On that occasion, Cuoghi produced scans of some crabs purchased at a fish market on the island and used the results to create files to be sent to a three-dimensional printer that would give birth to the clay model.Cuoghi then subjected the works to firing according to different procedures he invented, which resulted in sculptures of different colors and shapes. The artist personally studied the kilns in his studio in the Milanese countryside and then recreated them on Hydra Island.

There will then be space for the work Ether en Flocons (2016 - 2018), an installation with ten birds made of agar-agar and pig jelly. To create his birds, Cuoghi always used the same mold and filled it with the substance he devised, waiting for it to solidify: in the meantime, the mold was left at the mercy of the natural elements, and the mixture was thus further modified by the environment and atmosphere. Cuoghi then halted the process through the technique of freeze-drying: the bird was first frozen and then placed in a special dryer for a month, resulting in the jelly being transformed into a sculpture. Finally, the bird was placed in a vacuum machine and finally completed with the decorations imagined by the artist. This was another work with which Cuoghi experimented with the theme of metamorphosis.

At the moment, Roberto Cuoghi is the only living Italian artist represented by Hauser & Wirth, which boasts many of the most important names on the contemporary world scene, including Mark Bradford, Berlinde de Bruyckere, Isa Genzken, Dan Graham, Roni Horn, Pierre Huyghe, Matthew Day Jackson, Paul McCarthy, Ron Mueck, Mika Rottenberg, and many others.

Roberto Cuoghi joins Hauser & Wirth gallery, will be presented in New York

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