On Friday 22 November 2024, at 6 p.m., will be inaugurated in the spaces of Maco Arte in Via Ognissanti, 33 in Padua the exhibition ‘Ben. The beautiful is on the other side’.
Through the exhibition of over 50 works, the creative adventure of Ben Vautier – in art Ben – a recently deceased French artist, considered one of the most eccentric authors of contemporary art, will be told. The works presented in the exhibition are divided into three typologies: works with writing only, works with writing and photography (mostly as documentation of a performative act, especially at the time of his militancy in the Fluxus group) and finally works with writing on objects (this is where his more playful and cheeky aspect usually emerges).
Language in him becomes a work of art. A reflection that concerned the artist’s personal sphere on the one hand, and the relationship between the individual and society, collective cultural history and art on the other. Of this, Ben’s work highlighted the universal communicative value and the aspiration to freedom, but also denounced hypocrisy and inherent egotism.
Realised in collaboration with Soave Arte Contemporanea, the project, curated by Mattia Munari together with Marino Soave and Nicola Galvan, is completed by a catalogue that will be presented on the occasion of its opening.
Benjamin Vautier was born in Naples on 18 July 1935. In 1949, he settled with his family in Nice. In the same city, he opened a record shop called Laboratoire 32 in 1958, which was characterised by the originality of its décor and its exterior elevation; this place, together with the Ben Doute de Tout Gallery, which opened later, became a meeting place for numerous artists. At the same time, he also approached the visual arts, beginning to develop his own expressive style that found inspiration in the work of Duchamp. Over the last half century, his dense sign-writing has established itself as one of the most recognisable images of contemporary art. On 5 June 2024, Ben Vautier took his own life in Nice, the day after the death of his beloved wife and muse, Annie Baricalla.
From 22/11/2024 to 21/12/2024.
Free admission.
For information:
Maco Arte, Via Ognissanti, 33 Padua
T. +39 049 8075616
T. +39 393 1860510
