Ugo Carmeni and Michele Bubacco, NOWISEEBEESIWON, 2023
As a parallel project to the photography exhibition, "Ugo Carmeni - Venice Mapping Time" (Museo di Palazzo Grimani, Venice, July 5th - November 26th, 2023), a collaboration emerged with the artist Michele Bubacco. The Venetian painter contributed his artistic variations by painting on posters from Ugo Carmeni’s exhibition, which were affixed to the city walls. This activity took place at the break of dawn on a Sunday in August and, in a subsequent session, at the end of November.
All the ‘variations on the theme’ were documented in photographs by Ugo Carmeni and printed in limited edition in a format identical to the original posters, only slightly adjusted in scale to include the wall support margins beyond the poster edges in the print. Each variation is numbered and signed by both artists: the photographer and the painter.
The entire project was titled NOW I SEE BEES I WON, a palindrome highlighting the reciprocal exchange between mediums: photography, advertising graphics, and painting. A detail extracted from one of Carmeni’s photographs is transformed into a poster advertisement affixed to the city walls; painting is then applied to this support. The resulting artwork is then photographed and printed on blue back paper, the same material used for the original posters, thereby transforming it into art graphics.
The action on posters took place with the support and patronage of the Museum of Palazzo Grimani as a side event of the exhibition "Ugo Carmeni. Venice Mapping Time." The result of the action, the artist's book and limited edition posters, were presented at the Museum on November 17 with an event open to the public. On February 22, we will present the posters in the gallery. The exhibition will be open until March 20.
