EDDart presents, from March 16 to April 29, Cover, an exhibition dedicated to the work of Alighiero Boetti and Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, shown together for the first time in Rome. The story of the friendship between Alighiero Boetti and Frédéric Bruly Bouabré remains little known despite the fame of both protagonists, yet it offers a unique opportunity to shed light on each artist’s work through the gaze they cast upon one another.
First brought together curatorially on the occasion of the legendary exhibition Magiciens de la Terre, which in 1989 effectively opened the doors of the most institutional Parisian museums to artists representing “other” cultures, Boetti and Bruly Bouabré would go far beyond this initial encounter. What drew them together was a shared passion for alphabets, systems of numbers and letters, and the desire to invent a personal and original one capable of revealing the mysteries of the world. This was followed over the years by several journeys, meticulously reconstructed by Massimo Mininni in the catalogue text (currently in preparation), culminating in the major exhibition at the DIA, New York, World Envisioned, inaugurated just a few months after Boetti’s death. On view in the spaces of EDDart, several of Boetti’s tapestries, including the one bearing Bruly Bouabré’s name made in 1993, enter into dialogue with the extraordinary “stories” of the Ivorian artist, among them Alphabet bété, Mithologie Bété – La légende de Gli Yekremadigbi, and, naturally, the Hommage à mon ami Boetti series.
On view in the spaces of EDDart, several of Boetti’s tapestries—including the one created in 1993 bearing the name of Bruly Bouabré—enter into dialogue with the extraordinary “stories” of the Ivorian artist, among them Alphabet Bété, Mythologie Bété – La légende de Gli Yekremadigbi, and, naturally, the Hommage à mon ami Boetti.