Je Marchais Pieds Nus Dans L’Étang

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. A collection of 50 unique works, 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.