Italic BOLD at Hub/Art Barcelona

Hub/Art Barcelona is happy to announce the opening of a new exhibition, entitled “Italic BOLD” with artists Laura Benetton, Michele Spina and Zino, curated by Greta Zuccali. The event is realised thanks to GAG London ltd with the technical support of Interface FM Iberica and the contribution of McVector ltd Media & Communication.

The exhibition brings together the work of three Italian artists who have already collaborated with Hub/Art Milano. The decision to gather them under a single “banner”, the Italic BOLD, is due to the desire to shine the spotlight on Italian making. Italic because of their origins – Venetian for Laura Benetton, Roman for Michele Spina, and from Abruzzo for Zino – but above all because of the depth of research that characterises their work, which reveals an all-Italian way of thinking.

The work of Laura Benetton, a multi-disciplinary artist working at the intersection of art and science, investigates phenomena such as bioluminescence and movement. For this exhibition, the artist presents a series of works inspired by the natural shape of butterfly wings, investigating their interaction with light during movement. Laura’s abstract painting incorporates the language of geometry where structures are dynamic and entangle color washes, led light and lines.

In Michele Spina’s research, painting and sculpture meet. His intervention in the exhibition is divided into three moments. With the triptych “Ex voto contemporanei”, he uses logos, emoticons and other pop images to emphasise the emptiness of the social world; in “RhOME”, a graphic chessboard composition, he recounts his daily life, the city of Rome, through the combination of snakes and dolphins, symbols of sin and purity. Lastly, in the installation “Lemon Leaves”, nature reclaims its space, in an ironic and playful way.

Zino’s work, on the other hand, displays a series of works characterised by the use of tape art, a technique that involves the creation of works of art using various types of adhesive tape. In the series selected for Italic BOLD, the artist creates a communicative alphabet made of images and irony, in which iconic characters from contemporary culture are confronted with playful objects. The aim is to make the viewer smile, while nourishing a deeper reflection on our references in the mass media.

As well as Italic, the exhibition is BOLD because the work of the selected artists is strongly characterised by an emphasis on the creative gesture and for colour.

Hub/Art Barcelona

A bright 90-square-metre space, with three large windows running at the corner of Carrer del Dr. Trueta and Carrer de Roc Boronat, a stone’s throw from the Centre d’Arts Digitals de Barcelona and the famous Barceloneta promenade – will be an exhibition space open to experimentation, inclined to represent through the languages of art the encounter between different cultures. 

“An environment open to multiculturalism where people with different histories and interests can also meet to exchange impressions, experiences, projects,” says Greta Zuccali, founder and curator of Hub/Art.

Hub/Art

Hub/Art is an exhibition project born in 2017 in Milan, within Interface HUB, the Italian headquarters of the GAG London ltd group and Interface FM. 

The building is located in the heart of the Vigentino district, next to Symbiosis, the Beni Stabili project that is transforming the former industrial area adjacent to the Fondazione Prada into a new smart district for the city of Milan, which will host the Winter Olympics in 2026.

The project was created with the aim of improving the working environment and developing territorial welfare at the same time. A space designed for exhibitions and artistic-cultural events, which from its inception invites the public to explore its richly experimental content.

Remaining loyal to a spirit of perpetual evolution and committed to involving the widest possible audience in contemporary art, Hub/Art continues its journey across European states.

Artists

Laura Benetton is a London-based multidisciplinary artist who combines art and science. She studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice. Throughout her career, she has collaborated with various galleries in Italy, the UK and the US. He has also participated in prestigious artist residencies such as the one promoted by Fondazione Arnaldo Pomodoro and most recently, in 2019, with Jardin Orange in Shenzhen, China.

Her scientific research was completed by a master’s degree at Central Saint Martins in London. In 2021, she held a solo exhibition entitled “Metamorphosis” at Hub/Art Milano.

Michele Spina studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Naples and then specialised at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, graduating with a thesis in sculpture. Currently he is a lecturer in Art and Image at the Ministry of Education in Italy. He has been working and living in Rome since 2013. A parody of current fashions is evident in his works, and he draws inspiration from the punk and underground creative world.

Zino, born Luigi Franchi, graduates in Art History at the University of Bologna in the 1990s. After graduating, he moved to Rome, where he began collaborating with some artists at the former Cerere pasta factory and where his love for contemporary art was born. In 2013, Zino began to devote himself to his artistic career, which soon led him to exhibit at various public institutions, galleries and art fairs. The constant pursuit of new formal solutions to talk about today’s society and the curiosity to experiment with different languages form the basis of his work. He held a solo exhibition entitled ” People & Things” at Hub/Art Milan in 2020.

---

Opening hours
1 December, h. 18:30-21:00

Open to the public:
2 December 2022 to 5 March 2023
Monday to Saturday: opening by appointment

Hub/Art Barcelona
Carrer del Dr. Trueta, 183,
Barcelona, 08005 Spain