With Baci, Pivi transforms one of Italy’s most iconic confections - the Bacio Perugina - into sculpture. She first explored this symbol in 1997, placing two Bacio Perugina on a shelf for Fuori Uso in Provincia. Mercato Globale, a group show in Pescara, Italy. Nearly three decades later, that gesture takes on new weight, reimagined in stainless bronze. Two chocolates meet at their base, their smooth metallic curves locked in a timeless kiss. In this embrace, the everyday becomes profound.
The use of bronze in Baci echoes You know who I am, Pivi’s large-scale replica of the Statue of Liberty on the High Line in New York. While that work reinterprets an emblem of freedom, Baci immortalizes a moment of intimacy, suspending the ephemeral in weighty form. Bronze, a material historically reserved for statues of heroes and legends, here captures the sculptural poetry of an everyday indulgence.
In fusing these twin forms, Pivi plays with dualities: intimacy and mass production, sensuality and commercial branding, nostalgia and the alchemy of transformation. Baci is both playful and monumental, a kiss that lingers, sculpted into permanence.