Michele Bubacco: Painting as a Metaphor for Ambivalence

Michele Bubacco (born 1983 in Venice) lives and works between Vienna and Venice. His recent exhibitions include 'Essere Corpo' at Kunsthalle West in Lana-Bolzano (2019), 'Brain-Tooling' at Forte di Monte Ricco in Pieve di Cadore (2018), and a collateral event at Manifesta 12 in Palermo (2018). He started painting as a ghost painter for an artist who did not paint himself, earning €1,000 per month while experimenting. His influences range from Tintoretto and late Titian to Luigi Tito, Vedova, and Mušič, as well as Soutine, Twombly, Baselitz, Oehlen, Meese, and Jungwirth. Bubacco uses few mixed colors, emphasizing contrasts between warm and cold tones. He describes the body as a pivot generating contradictory attitudes, often preserving fragments from previous stages. He employs irony to create unexpected twists. His technique involves initial brushwork followed by tactile manipulation with hands, rags, shoes, or other objects. He works on various supports including canvas, aluminum, and wood, often reworking existing images. His series 'Fuck-Simile' (2017) at Galleria Alessandro Casciaro in Bolzano explored the relationship between painting and digital imagery, using green-screen-like backgrounds replaced via Photoshop. He titles works based on suggestions from imaginary friends or passersby. Bubacco believes figuration lies in the eye of the beholder. He finds little contemporary Italian painting abroad but notes growing attention within Italy.