Vedovamazzei comprises two Italian artists, Stella Scala and Simeone Crispino, who since 1991 have been working collaboratively as Vedovamazzei. Since collaborating in 1991 they have used a wide range of media including sculpture, painting, installation and photography. Their piece, 'Nave Emmet Native Amer'(2011) was one of three pieces they chose to exhibit at the Dublin Contemporary 2011 exhibition, its theme being, 'Terrible Beauty – Art, Crisis, Change and The Office of Non-Compliance'
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Nave Emmet Native Amer
Their piece ‘Nave Emmet Native Amer’was created especially for the Dublin Contemporary exhibition at first glance appears as two delicate pictures displayed simply on a plain wall. One picture is a floral design and the other, a series of circles in various sizes. The room they reside in is spacious and light and there is little to distract you from the simple beauty of the designs. The theme of Vedovamazzei’s pieces of the 2011 Dublin Contemporary exhibition seemed to be that things are not what they seem to be.
Significance
It is not until you read the information panel that you discover the reason these two delicate and beautiful pictures fit into Dublin Contemporary’s theme of ‘Terrible Beauty’. The pieces are made from the ashes, combined with oil paints, of two American prisoners who were sentenced to death. ‘The idea of death and transformation is illustrated by the piece while raising ethical issues with regard to its medium. Beautiful pictures resembling floral wallpaper are made using the ashes of an individual sentenced to death in America.