(Turin 1940–1994 Rome)
Bugs Bunny, 1993, signed, mixed media (collage, spray paint, gouache, pencil) on lithograph, 70 x 50 cm, framed

This work is part of a group of 25 works, all of which are unique pieces created for Kunstmuseum Luzern

This work is registered in the Archivio Alighiero Boetti, Rome and is accompanied by a photo-ertificate of authenticity

Provenance:
Kunstmuseum Luzern, Lucerne
European Private Collection

Exhibited:
Lucerne, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Alighiero Boetti 1965–1992. Synchronizität als Prinzip akausaler Zusammenhänge, 14 February-14 April 1993

In 1993, Alighiero e Boetti created the edition of 25 examples entitled “Bugs Bunny” for his retrospective exhibition “Alighiero e Boetti 1965-1991: Synchronicity as an acausal connecting principle” which travelled to Bonn, Münster and Lucerne. Each example, though unique, was made according to the same pattern consisting of two parts: on the left-hand side, the animated cartoon character Bugs Bunny eats a carrot and leans against a vertical line drawn roughly in the middle. The two opposite sections clash against each other: whilst the left part is almost empty, featuring only the cartoon character, the right section is crowded with animals, stains of colour, signs, drawings and lettering applied with a stencil. The style of this edition is reminiscent of previous works, such as “Extra Strong”, “La Natura, una Faccenda Ottusa” and the frieze Boetti created for the Venice Biennale in 1990. This edition is also inspired by the seven-part “Bugs Bunny” series from 1989 and displays the same bipartition, but differs in the execution of its right-hand side. Instead of animals, the 1989 series featured glued, painted and overwritten newspaper clips, photographs of the Gulf War and the Croat-Bosniak War. Both series, however, convey Boetti’s dualistic vision through their bipartition. In Boetti’s view, opposites are connected. This idea, which he also expressed by linking his name and surname by means of an “e” (the conjunction “and”), occurs time and again in all his works.
(Sylvia Rüttimann)