Erika Verzutti

Venus Yogini

Erika Verzutti is a Brazilian artist known for her sculpture, installation, and painting, through which she blends modernist, contemporary, and paleolithic forms using known or found objects - namely fruits and plants. Her compositions reference the origins and materiality of sculpture, and its inherent role in culture, particularly when displayed in public spaces.

In Venus Yogini, a momentous arrangement of stacked graviola and pumpkin references the upside down profile of the earliest known sculpture - Venus of Willendorf, a figurine created roughly 30,000 years ago representing fertility. Imbued with expressive textures and painterly patches of color, Verzuttis sculptures subvert and recontextualize classical motifs while constructing new perspectives on femininity and fertility.

By manipulating the scale of known fruits and organic forms, Verzutti evokes the enormity of the ecological destruction taking place in Brazil in the wake of increasing global need for natural resources. Venus Yogini standing proudly recalls our history as cultivators of the earth and reminds us to consider the price of our material attachments.

Verzuttis has had solo exhibtions at Centre Pompidou, Paris, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Sculpture Center, New York, and is her work is present in the collections Tate Modern, London; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Guggenheim Museum, New York; among others. The first survey of her work in the United States opens June 24th at Bard College in New York.

Erika Verzutti is a Brazilian artist known for her sculpture, installation, and painting, through which she blends modernist, contemporary, and paleolithic forms using known or found objects - namely fruits and plants. Her compositions reference the origins and materiality of sculpture, and its inherent role in culture, particularly when displayed in public spaces.

In Venus Yogini, a momentous arrangement of stacked graviola and pumpkin references the upside down profile of the earliest known sculpture - Venus of Willendorf, a figurine created roughly 30,000 years ago representing fertility. Imbued with expressive textures and painterly patches of color, Verzuttis sculptures subvert and recontextualize classical motifs while constructing new perspectives on femininity and fertility.

By manipulating the scale of known fruits and organic forms, Verzutti evokes the enormity of the ecological destruction taking place in Brazil in the wake of increasing global need for natural resources. Venus Yogini standing proudly recalls our history as cultivators of the earth and reminds us to consider the price of our material attachments.

Verzuttis has had solo exhibtions at Centre Pompidou, Paris, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Sculpture Center, New York, and is her work is present in the collections Tate Modern, London; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Guggenheim Museum, New York; among others. The first survey of her work in the United States opens June 24th at Bard College in New York.

Erika Verzutti is a Brazilian artist known for her sculpture, installation, and painting, through which she blends modernist, contemporary, and paleolithic forms using known or found objects - namely fruits and plants. Her compositions reference the origins and materiality of sculpture, and its inherent role in culture, particularly when displayed in public spaces.

In Venus Yogini, a momentous arrangement of stacked graviola and pumpkin references the upside down profile of the earliest known sculpture - Venus of Willendorf, a figurine created roughly 30,000 years ago representing fertility. Imbued with expressive textures and painterly patches of color, Verzuttis sculptures subvert and recontextualize classical motifs while constructing new perspectives on femininity and fertility.

By manipulating the scale of known fruits and organic forms, Verzutti evokes the enormity of the ecological destruction taking place in Brazil in the wake of increasing global need for natural resources. Venus Yogini standing proudly recalls our history as cultivators of the earth and reminds us to consider the price of our material attachments.

Verzuttis has had solo exhibtions at Centre Pompidou, Paris, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, Sculpture Center, New York, and is her work is present in the collections Tate Modern, London; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh; Guggenheim Museum, New York; among others. The first survey of her work in the United States opens June 24th at Bard College in New York.

Erika Verzutti

Erika Verzutti

Venus Yogini

Exhibition

Exhibition

Materials & Dimensions

Materials & Dimensions

Bronze with pigmented wax

123 5/8 x 57 1/8 inches

Year

Year

2019

Site

Site

Pfister Hotel Pocket Park

Credits

Credits

Courtesy of the artist and Andrew Kreps Gallery.

Audio Tour

Audio Tour

0:00/1:34

Katy Cowan

suns fall

Katy Cowan

suns fall

Katy Cowan

suns fall

Lars Fisk

Tudor Ball

Lars Fisk

Tudor Ball

Lars Fisk

Tudor Ball

Pao Houa Her

Untitled

Pao Houa Her

Untitled

Pao Houa Her

Untitled

thank you

To our generous sponsors, partners, collaborators, and supporters who make our work possible.

Founding & Sustaining
Sponsors

* indicates both Founding and sustaining founding sponsor

Anonymous
Donna & Donald Baumgartner*
Black Box Fund
Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation
Susan & Mark Irgens*
Mellowes Family*
Sue & Bud Selig*
Julie & David Uihlein*
Lacey Sadoff Foundation

presenting

Collaborator

Betty Arndt
City of Milwaukee Arts Board
Good Karma Brands

leader

Anonymous
Heil Family Foundation
Godfrey & Kahn

Exhibition Partner

Visionary

George & Karen Oliver

sculpture

Wayne & Lori Morgan

Connector

BMO
Foley & Lardner
Hawks Landscaping
Open Pantry
PNC Bank
PwC
Russ Darrow Group
Town Bank
US Bank
WeycoGroup

Sculpture Milwaukee is always free and open to the public thanks to our generous supporters.

We work with trusted community partners to ensure great contemporary art is accessible to all.

Colophon

© 2025 Sculpture Milwaukee

thank you

To our generous sponsors, partners, collaborators, and supporters who make our work possible.

Founding & Sustaining
Sponsors

* indicates both Founding and sustaining founding sponsor

Anonymous
Donna & Donald Baumgartner*
Black Box Fund
Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation
Herb Kohl Philanthropies
Herzfeld Foundation
Hoke Family Foundation
Susan & Mark Irgens*
Mandel Groups*
Mellowes Family*
Sue & Bud Selig*
Julie & David Uihlein*
Lacey Sadoff Foundation

presenting

Collaborator

Betty Arndt
City of Milwaukee Arts Board
Good Karma Brands

leader

Anonymous
Heil Family Foundation
Godfrey & Kahn

Exhibition Partner

Visionary

Evan & Marion Helfaer Foundation

sculpture

Wayne & Lori Morgan

Connector

BMO
Foley & Lardner
Hawks Landscaping
Open Pantry
PNC Bank
PwC
Russ Darrow Group
Town Bank
US Bank
WeycoGroup

Sculpture Milwaukee is always free and open to the public thanks to our generous supporters.

We work with trusted community partners to ensure great contemporary art is accessible to all.

Sign up for our newsletter

Colophon

© 2025 Sculpture Milwaukee