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JACOPO BENASSI

JACOPO BENASSI

JACOPO BENASSI

JACOPO BENASSI

JACOPO BENASSI

MIMESIS

A PROJECT BY BLOOD BECOMES WATER

A PROJECT BY BLOOD BECOMES WATER

A PROJECT BY BLOOD BECOMES WATER

A PROJECT BY BLOOD BECOMES WATER

A PROJECT BY BLOOD BECOMES WATER

A PROJECT BY BLOOD BECOMES WATER

A PROJECT BY BLOOD BECOMES WATER

A PROJECT BY BLOOD BECOMES WATER

Explore the project

Fabrics and textile materials have been explored and used by artists since generations. Today, in a context of evolving digital technologies, traditional techniques are being re-established as the pictorial carriers of images, complemented by an enthusiasm towards new designs.

 

“Mimesis” (2022) presents a collage of selected auto portraits by Jacopo Benassi in a multi-layered textile patchwork. The photographs were taken between 2011 and 2022 and represent a small archive of the life of the artist. Accumulation and time could also be found in quilts, where the patchwork contains “valuable historical information about their creators, visualizing particular segments of history in tangible, textured ways” [Quilts as a visual history].

Jacopo Benassi - self-portrait
Jacopo Benassi - self-portrait
Jacopo Benassi - self-portrait
Jacopo Benassi - self-portrait
Jacopo Benassi - self-portrait
Jacopo Benassi - self-portrait
Jacopo Benassi - self-portrait
Jacopo Benassi - self-portrait
Jacopo Benassi - self-portrait
Jacopo Benassi - self-portrait
The original photographs used for creating the "Mimesis" textile collage.
All images © Jacopo Benassi

The idea of representing Benassi’s works into a textile object, was inspired by the multicultural tradition of fabrics, where materials and patterning frequently function as symbols of cultural identity. Through a home-made approach of collage and textile techniques that divides the fabric in separate volumes, Benassi’s different faces and body parts are brought together to construct a cult image of a new supreme-power character reflecting the artist’s complex personality in its various appearances.

JACOPO BENASSI IN MIMESIS BY BLOOD BECOMES WATER

JACOPO BENASSI IN MIMESIS BY BLOOD BECOMES WATER

JACOPO BENASSI IN MIMESIS BY BLOOD BECOMES WATER

JACOPO BENASSI IN MIMESIS BY BLOOD BECOMES WATER

JACOPO BENASSI IN MIMESIS BY BLOOD BECOMES WATER

Mimesis patchwork by Blood Becomes Water
Technical details:
Dimensions: 148x234cm
Dye-sublimation print on 100% polyester
Synthetic and wadding fabrics
Black yarn, sewing threads
Bubble aluminum foil
Glue, wooden slats

“Mimesis” addresses the semiotics of Benassi’s photography, but also the act of expression, resembling and the presentation of the self, which in many ways also portray racial, cultural or political stereotypes.

 

The act of generating a derivative image relates to Jacopo Benassi “punk” aesthetics, but also creates a link to the subcultures, artistic rebellion and experimental context he is part of. Aside from presenting the artist, the project aims to remind the alternative, underground realities through the destruction of the standardized settings behind the action of creation of an artwork and its presentation. This is reinforced by the curatorial visual intervention and raises questions about the authenticity and use of images.

JACOPO BENASSI IN MIMESIS BY BLOOD BECOMES WATER

JACOPO BENASSI IN MIMESIS BY BLOOD BECOMES WATER

JACOPO BENASSI IN MIMESIS BY BLOOD BECOMES WATER

JACOPO BENASSI IN MIMESIS BY BLOOD BECOMES WATER

JACOPO BENASSI IN MIMESIS BY BLOOD BECOMES WATER

Available as a limited edition stone paper poster & 3XL t-shirts (size of the artist)

Blood Becomes Water stamp
 
 
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MIMESIS POSTER

Project publication by Blood Becomes Water

42 x 59.4 cm (A2)
Inkjet print on AccurioJet KM-1e
144g Armen Paper®
100 folded & numbered copies
Printed in France

Armen Paper® is a new material of mineral origin with unique environmental characteristics. It is made of 80% calcium carbonate powder (marble and chalk), mixed with 20% polyethylene resin. Stone paper is infinitely recyclable and naturally resistant to water or grease. Furthermore, its softness and flexibility reminds of fabric, which relates on conceptual level to the project.

I'd like to get a copy

MIMESIS T-SHIRT

Conceptual outfit in collaboration with Fondazione Benassi Iacopo (FBI)
100% cotton black T-shirt
3XL (artist size)
1 color screen-print
Made in Bulgaria
“Everyone wants Jacopo Benassi’s big body. His already legendary photographs and performances made him an icon of Italian and international subculture. So, maybe you won’t be able to have his body (maybe), but for sure from today you can have it as a t-shirt. The size is unique, XXXL, and it is the size used by Benassi himself: some of you will be able to wear them as a dress. They are black, of course.
We decided to make them in Jacopo’s image, so that you too can embody him. Because a community is such only if it is able to aggregate around some bodies that become a symbol, metaphor and a magnet of the bodies of those who compose it.”
Antonio Grulli
Art critic and independent curator, Fondazione Benassi Iacopo (FBI)
Unleash your Benassi fetish
Antonio Grulli in front of Mimesis by Blood Becomes Water at ArtVerona 2022
Impressions

Curator Antonio Grulli on “Mimesis”

"When I saw the work "Mimesis" in Verona, I was impressed. And two thoughts came to me. The first was related to an aspect of Jacopo Benassi's work of which I was not yet fully aware: Jacopo in recent years has crossed that invisible line that separates the world of…
bbwgirls
January 3, 2023
Mimesis by Blood Becomes Water at Artverona 2022
Exhibitions

Mimesis at One Book Bookstore, Sofia!

One Book Bookstore представя: Якопо Бенаси в „𝐌𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐒“, проект на Blood Becomes Water 16 – 22 декември 2022 Откриване: 16 декември, петък, 18:30 часа Facebook събитие Едно произведение, една публикация в One Book Bookstore, София за една седмица. Проектът "Mimesis" ще бъде изложен в рамките на седмицата от 16 до…
bbwgirls
November 18, 2022
Jacopo Benassi in Mimesis by Blood Becomes Water
Exhibitions

Mimesis at ArtVerona #17

Blood Becomes Water presented the "Mimesis" project for the first time at ArtVerona - a modern and contemporary art fair in Verona as a part of Pages section, curated by Ginevra Bria. Pages section came forward in a new international guise by inviting top sector magazines to present their history,…
bbwgirls
February 27, 2020