“CHARTA MAP”, SWAB FAIR, BARCELLONA

October 2015, Barcelona, Spain

Portanova12 Gallery (Bologna) in Swab Fair.
In that occasion I showned some new works of the series “Charta – Map” with a curatorial text by Karin Gavassa.
Big up to Gigi Piana for this nice experience together.
This was the occasion for making a combo with Alessandra Maio.

Here is the curatorial text by Karin Gavassa
“Opiemme begins his journey in the late ’90s in Turin with an meticulous research on poetry and with the intention to bring it to the streets, closer to the people, exploring new ways to present it in order to realize its expressive potential.
In 2013, among other projects, Opiemme created a poetic route of street poetry that became the manifesto of his poetic philosophy: “A Journey of painting and poetry,” narrated by the American Huffington Post. A site-specific painting style was developed that brings together the planning skills intrinsic in public art, attention to the history and the different lyrics of each place, and technique, such as stencils, spray, wall paint, chalk accumulations, and installations.
Opiemme’s entire work takes the form of a research on poetry which opens up to both the inner and geographical spaces, starting from a personal and intimate point of view. His inspiration draws from international movements and the iconic artists of visual poetry.
The thin demarcation line between poetry and image is what interests Opiemme the most, in particular the way in which the word can be transformed into a graphic sign and be enriched with new meanings. Recently, in the spectacular setting of the Teatro delle Rocce (Gavorrano, Grosseto), poetry becomes a sign through which new images can be drawn. Images to read, words to look at. Messages that are poetically expressed yet accessible to all.
The return to the use of maps, at a time when we are used to see ourselves as avatars on our GPS, leads us to a recovery of the memory of places. The very gesture of opening and folding the maps takes us back to a slower and more careful use, more than doing the same thing with the geolocation of our smartphone screens. “Staring at the maps , I see shapes and memories – Opiemme said – I like to read them. Orientating myself without devices… “.
Thus, flying letters arise from the morphology of places, leading across words which then become forms, awaking emotions, filtering memories and experiences. “My drawings swim in them. And they take on values that are unknown. Just as the words of a poem can have different meanings, depending on the emotions and experiences of who reads them.“