Illycaffè launches the new Illy Art Collection signed by 4 emerging Latin American artists.

illycaffè, global coffee company presents the new illy Art Collection dedicated to the 60th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale, which bears the same name as the event "Stranieri Ovunque - Foreigners Everywhere". A more than 20-year association, the one with the International Art Exhibition, which is reconfirmed also on the occasion of the 60th edition by enriching itself with an illy Art Collection signed by four emerging Latin American artists chosen by Biennale Arte 2024 curator Adriano Pedrosa among those exhibiting within the exhibition. The iconic illy cups were once again transformed into a blank canvas on which Guatemalan Paula Nicho, Peruvian Rember Yahuarcani López, Colombian Aycoobo and Brazilian collective Mahaku were able to express their creativity, firmly rooted in the traditions and culture of their land. The illy Art Collection will be available in the illy e-shop, stores (illy Caffè and illy Shop), large retail channels and indirect e-commerce channels.

Kit of 4 espresso cups at the recommended price of € 94.00

Kit of 4 cappuccino cups at the recommended price of € 114.00

2 espresso cup kit at the suggested retail price of €51.00

Kit of 2 cappuccino cups at the suggested retail price of €61.00

“The new illy Art Collection, which takes up the theme of the Biennale Arte 2024, is dedicated to those who are foreign or far away and promotes, through the language of contemporary art, the different forms of dialogue and inclusion, ranging from respect for the roots and culture of all peoples to the importance of living in balance with nature, values that illycaffè supports throughout the supply chain, always putting the person and the environment at the center of all its activities,” says Cristina Scocchia, CEO of illycaffè.

Notes on the artists

Paula Nicho is probably the most important living Guatemalan Mayan artist. She started working as a weaver and today paints the fantasy of clothes, which reproduce nature in an artistic, unique and special way. She considers them “my second skin,” which is also the title of the work reproduced in the cup, and they represent that part of her history in which she suffered discrimination for wearing traditional clothes. Through depicting various scenes of life, in which she captured the strength of women wearing the distinctive costumes of the various regions of Guatemala, the artist testifies to the importance of clothing in restoring indigenous self-determination.

Rember Yahuarcani López is a visual artist, writer, and activist who belongs to Clan Áimenɨ of the Uitoto Nation of the Northern Amazon in Peru. Each painting is the living voice of the ancestors and the gods, reflected in animals and nature, for in those days there was no separation between man and nature. In the “invisible beings” cup, the artist reproduces creatures born thousands of years ago in the Amazon territories. Over the centuries it was the indigenous gods who taught their inhabitants new ways of relating to the environment, and it is through myths and stories that they continue to pass on important knowledge about medicine, building, planting and caring for the environment.

Aycoobo (Wilson Rodríguez) is a Colombian artist who learned art from his father, a painter and plant expert. In many of his works he addresses the relationship between man and nature. For him, art is a way to refine his ancient roots and his life as an individual in the contemporary world. The cup, which traces the work “the shaman’s dream,” represents the way the shaman perceives and feels nature from his being, spiritually connecting with the plants and animals, who are the heavenly guardians of the land, learning from them the ancient wisdom that sees each one playing a role, a shared and accepted function because each one brings its own medicine to heal humanity.

MAHKU, the Brazilian Movement of Artists of the Huni Kuin ethnic group, use art to give form to stories told in Huni meka songs, which they consider messages from the spirits transmitted to the Huni Kuin people. Their works depict myths about the origins of the world and the relationships between humans, animals, plants and spirits. The cup tells the myth of kapewë pukeni (the bridge-alligator): some men had to cross from the Asian to the American continent across the Bering Strait. An alligator offered to carry them on his back in exchange for food. Along the way, available animals became increasingly scarce, and the men hunted a small alligator, betraying the trust of the large alligator, which sank into the sea. Hence originated the separation between different peoples and places.

Illycaffè launches the new Illy Art Collection signed by 4 emerging Latin American artists.

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