Gabriele Basilico
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In 1978 Gabriele Basilico participated at the group exhibition The Margin of Freedom/Object: Comparing Interpretations with a symbolic and ironic project. While pondering on the relationship between the chair/object and the human body, he was reminded of the amusing and grotesque marks that highly textured chairs leave on the bare bodies of bathers in the summer: an actual “contact” print, a temporary embossed tattoo printed on the body that artistically reveals the original surface. The idea to make a studio reconstruction of this sequence of marks turned out hilariously, and in order to capture the texture more effectively, he worked with a PN55 black and white Polaroid film, creating an instant negative of exceptional sharpness and softness. Basilico was helped by his assistant, the chair suppliers, and above all by his friend who agreed to be the model.
