Bill Beckley, Peter Hutchinson, Franco Vaccari

Narrative Works

28 January – 26 March 2011

The aim of this exhibition is to represent the precise historic moment that photography assumed a new role in artistic use. It was used by these artists ever since the first experiences of Conceptual Art as a means to describe an event, as a medium to represent the action or happening that the artist frames as the real subject of the piece. Subsequently photography, sometimes accompanied by the use of texts, became able to narrate a story, often of normal daily life, independent of the fact that it really took place or that it may have a content that if not evocative, clearly renounces the search for logical paradoxes or linguistic non-sense. As Angela Madesani explains in the exhibition catalogue, “They are artworks in which images and written parts have the same value in the economy of the piece. Each of the two languages succeeds in maintaining its autonomy with respect to the other. We find ourselves before narrations-non-narrations in which we capture the specularity of the languages within the piece. Photography is only a trace of the real, it has nothing virtuous about it.” The exhibition, which does not aim to present a group or a movement, develops with the works of artists that interpreted this change from the very beginning. Look then at the works song for a Chin-up (1971-72) by Bill Beckley, Composition with composites (1970) by Peter Hutchinson and Esposizione in tempo reale n.1 - Maschere (1969) by Franco Vaccari, which narrate and docment a precise action desired by the artist, while – to mention just a few - De Kooning’s stove (1974) by Bill Beckley, Alphabet Series (1974) by Peter Hutchinson and Viaggio sul Reno (1974) by Franco Vaccari take on the form of pure narrative.

Exhibition Works

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Peter Hutchinson, Blue Rose, 1974, color photo, text on cardboard, object in bronze, cm.134x74,5
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Peter Hutchinson, Composition with composites, 1970, photo collage and text on cardboard , cm.87x152
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Peter Hutchinson, Spider, 1969, photo collage and text on cardboard, cm.39,5x40,5
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Bill Beckley, Twings painted white, 1969, color photo, cm.40x50
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Bill Beckley, Song for a sliding board, 1971, photo collage and text on cardboard, cm.51x75,5
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Bill Beckley, Song for a chin-up, 1972, photo collage and text on cardboard, cm.51x75,5
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Franco Vaccari, Esposizione in tempo reale n.1 - Maschere, 1969, photo collage and text on cardboard, cm.79,5x52,
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Franco Vaccari, Esposizione in tempo reale n.4 - Lascia su queste pareti una traccia fotografica del tuo passaggio, 1972, photo strip, typed text on paper, cm.20x4 e cm.28x12
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Franco Vaccari, Esposizione in tempo reale n.4 - Lascia su queste pareti una traccia fotografica del tuo passaggio,, 1972, photo strip, typed text on paper, cm.20x4 e cm.28x12
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Franco Vaccari, Esposizione in tempo reale n.4 - Lascia su queste pareti una traccia fotografica del tuo passaggio,, 1972, photo strip, typed text on paper, cm.20x4 e cm.28x12
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Peter Hutchinson, Winter garden citrus freeze (series), anni '70, photo collage and text on cardboard , cm.35,5x28
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Peter Hutchinson, Lunch, 1973, photo collage and text on cardboard cm.35x25
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Bill Beckley, De Kooning’s Stove, 1974, b/w photo and cibachrome, cm.104x157
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Bill Beckley, Roses are, Violets are, Sugar are, 1974, cibachrome, cm.95x228
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Franco Vaccari, Photomatic d’Italia, 1972-74, photo collage and text on cardboard, cm.73x101
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Franco Vaccari, Esposizione in tempo reale n.6 - Il mendicante elettronico, 1973, photo collage and mix technique on cardboard, cm.72x103,5
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Peter Hutchinson, Blow Out, 1972, photo collage and text on cardboard cm.76x51
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Peter Hutchinson, Artichoke, 1974, color photo, text on cardboard, object in aluminium, cm.134x74,5
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Peter Hutchinson, Nude Beach, 1974, color photo, text on cardboard, object in metal (nickels), cm.137x74,5
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Bill Beckley, Drop and Bucket, 1975, cibachrome, cm.292x91
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Bill Beckley, Hot and Cold Faucets with Drain, 1975, cibachrome, cm.102x229
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Franco Vaccari, Viaggio sul Reno, 1974, color photos on aluminium, cm.29x39 (18)
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Franco Vaccari, Modena, Via Agnini, 1975, photo collage and text on cardboard, cm.79x109,5
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Franco Vaccari, Spazio privato, Spazio pubblico, 1977, photo collage and mix technique on cardboard, cm.71,5x103
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Peter Hutchinson, Colour Analysis II, 1973, photo collage and text on cardboard , cm.80x55
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Peter Hutchinson, Underwater apples and oranges, 1977, photo collage and text on cardboard , cm.28x34