Barry McGee. [Edizione Italiana]

Intended specifically for the Fondazione Prada's space in Via Fogazzaro, this huge installation devised by McGee is entitled Today Pink (2002). This is entered through an unusual and decidedly bewildering passage, which, when one emerges, turns out to be the back of an overturned truck. In the exhibition space one finds oneself in a chaotic scene, consisting of abandoned vehicles covered with graffiti, figures painted on huge metallic or monochrome walls, and fragments of lighter, fluctuating objects.
This is a world rich in signs and symbols that contain references to life in today?s cities and are linked to images of American culture ? such as the large, enigmatic figure of a Native American painted upside down on a wall made of rusty iron sheets. As in the aftermath of a road accident, two abandoned vehicles invade the space. On their bodies the artist has painted his familiar faces, which, with their sad eyes, are a reminder of bowed, resigned humanity. ?The presence of this male figure is kind of like this everyman, and it?s very specific to San Francisco, where there?s a huge homeless population that everyone wants to be free of [?]. The subject is to do with graffiti and the homeless? kind of like an outcast, things that the city is trying to get rid of, or trying to hide, or pretending doesn?t exist.?* On the walls, the dominant colour is red. This refers to a detail of the urban environment that has inspired the artist: ?In Chinatown in San Francisco the doors are painted red. They are great surfaces, they attract me a lot. Red is the colour of life.?* Innumerable drawings appear on all the walls, following each other without a gap.
Here the rapid gesture is interwoven with a clear, delicate line that depicts a world of images realized with a wide range of techniques (enamel, acrylics, spray paint, chalk and pencil): the result is a veritable crowd of human faces. Dominating the white space is a huge male figure with a childlike face: wearing black pants and a lightcoloured shirt, it has the severity and majesty of the Mexican murals.
The intensity of the installation is reinforced by the presence of a bunches liquor bottles, used by McGee as supports for his paintings, together with a large number of miscellaneous multicoloured objects such as painted cases, road signs, table napkins, dry leaves, shop signs, panels, cast-off clothes and small drawings by the artist and by people dear to him.