Artist: Gaia Vincensini
Exhibition title: Cryptomancie
Venue: Gaudel de Stampa, Paris, France
Date: October 13 – November 12, 2022
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Gaudel de Stampa, Paris
Gaia Vincensini’s works build on the idea of mystery as a highly erotic object of its own. The keys and keyholes, masks, puzzle pieces and curtains she persistently generates do not exist to hide something — in fact, they do not hide anything. They are pure symbols, pointing out an object which the only trait is its immutable unknowability — mystery — and which sole function is to trigger raw, boundless desire.
From that perspective, anything meant to hide something in reality can become an extreme, delusional object of desire, ready to unleash the most fertile imagination. Love, of course, is to be found among these world-opening topics handled by Vincensini in her works through poetical and intimate drawings…
But there’s more than that.
By exploiting the opacity of capitalistic institutions, methodologies and discourses, Vincensini’s take on the hidden side of reality becomes political. Dripping ahegao tongues coming out of ATM slots, sweating numeric keypads, CCTV orgies, oral sex with locks and keyholes, romantic rendez-vous on bank rooftops…
In the tradition of 18th Century licentious writings and caricatures, Vincensini uses puritanism and prudishness as a breach for disturbing lust and decadence.
-Simon Gérard
Gaia Vincensini (1992, Geneva), studied at HEAD, Geneva. In 2021, she won the Manor Culture Prize and the Kiefer Hablitzel Art Prize. Recent solo exhibitions include: Mamco, Geneva; Fiac 2021, solo presentation with Gaudel de Stampa, Paris; Martina Simeti, Milan; Terzo Fronte, Roma; Alienze, Lausanne; 186f Kepler, NY; Forde, Geneva; Gaudel de Stampa, Paris. Recent group exhibitions include: Kunsthaus Langenthal, Langenthal; Swiss Institute, NY; Weiss Falk, Basel; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Normandy Hôtel, Paris; Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, St. Gallen; Centre d’Art Contemporain Genève, Geneva; Häusler Contemporary, Zürich; MABA, Nogent-sur- Marne. Together with Eliott Villars and Kim Coussée, she founded a collective project focusing on printmaking, embroidery and clothing called INNER LIGHT.
Gaia Vincensini, Cryptomancie, 2022, exhibition view, Gaudel de Stampa, Paris
Gaia Vincensini, Cryptomancie, 2022, exhibition view, Gaudel de Stampa, Paris
Gaia Vincensini, Cryptomancie, 2022, exhibition view, Gaudel de Stampa, Paris
Gaia Vincensini, Midnight illusion, 2022, (Cryptomancie), Watercolor & acrylic on paper, 152 × 91 × 2 cm (59 7/8 × 35 7/8 × 3/4 inches)
Gaia Vincensini, Midnight illusion, 2022, (Cryptomancie), Watercolor & acrylic on paper, 152 × 91 × 2 cm (59 7/8 × 35 7/8 × 3/4 inches)
Gaia Vincensini, The rules of our game, 2022, (Cryptomancie), Ceramic, glaze, Variable dimension
Gaia Vincensini, Chase withdrawals (touch me), 2022, (Cryptomancie), Ceramic, glaze, wood, spackling paste, 64 × 45 × 22 cm (25 1/4 × 17 3/4 × 8 5/8 inches); Chase withdrawals (bribing you), 2022, (Cryptomancie), Ceramic, glaze, wood, spackling paste, 64 × 45 × 22 cm (25 1/4 × 17 3/4 × 8 5/8 inches)
Gaia Vincensini, Study for new money (about loss)-red, 2022, (Cryptomancie), Paper, paper print on sewing pattern, mounted on canvas, acrylic, pencil, satin varnish, soft pastel, 178 × 130 × 4 cm (70 1/8 × 51 1/8 × 1 5/8 inches)
Gaia Vincensini, Study for new money (about loss)-orange, 2022, (Cryptomancie), Paper, paper print on sewing pattern, mounted on canvas, acrylic, pencil, satin varnish, soft pastel, 178 × 130 × 4 cm (70 1/8 × 51 1/8 × 1 5/8 inches)
Gaia Vincensini, Study for new money (about loss)-pink, 2022, (Cryptomancie), Paper, paper print on sewing pattern, mounted on canvas, acrylic, pencil, satin varnish, soft pastel, 178 × 130 × 4 cm (70 1/8 × 51 1/8 × 1 5/8 inches)
Gaia Vincensini, Ascending (through your gaze), 2022, (Cryptomancie), Ceramic, glaze, watercolor & acrylic on canvas, linen, polyester fiber Variable dimension, 170 × 84 × 23 cm (66 7/8 × 33 1/8 × 9 inches)
Gaia Vincensini, New gods, 2022, (Cryptomancie), Ceramic, glaze, watercolor & acrylic on canvas, linen, polyester fiber Variable dimension, 120 × 140 × 17 cm (47 1/4 × 55 1/8 × 6 3/4 inches)
Gaia Vincensini, Devotion, 2022, (Cryptomancie), Ceramic, glaze, watercolor & acrylic on canvas, linen, polyester fiber Variable dimension, 95 × 110 × 12 cm (37 3/8 × 43 1/4 × 4 3/4 inches)