MILAN.- from June 17 to October 4, 2015, a celebration of painting and its cardinal role in art will transform the rooms of the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Milan into a peerless, spectacular treasure trove of contemporary art with the major exhibition “Don’t Shoot the Painter. Paintings from the UBS Art Collection,” curated by francesco Bonami. This exhibition is one of the key events in the ExpoinCittà calendar. It is presented by the Galleria d’Arte Moderna and the City of Milan in conjunction with UBS, as part of the three-year partnership between the bank and GAM, demonstrating exemplary collaboration between the public and private sectors.

The exhibits – on display to the Italian public for the first time – comprise more than 100 of the most significant works in the UBS Art Collection from the 1960s to today by 91 international artists, among them John Armleder, John Baldessari, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Max Bill, Michaël Borremans, Alice Channer, Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente, Enzo Cucchi, Günther Förg, Gilbert & George, Katharina Grosse, Andreas Gursky, Damien Hirst, Alex Katz, Bharti Kher, Gerhard Richter, Thomas Struth, Hiroshi Sugimoto, to name just a few. A veritable exploration of painting in modern times – which investigates key forms, such as landscape, portraits, the human figure and abstract art – in order to detect and sanction the role of the latter as a point of reference in history for artists and the public.

Painting thus becomes a broader source of inspiration for art and the approach of artists themselves. Based on this very consideration, the exhibition opens with a celebration of painting via a famous photograph by Thomas Struth, in which the artist captures the relationship arising between the viewer and the artwork, creating a work within a work, a museum within a museum, while we ourselves view other viewers. Like Struth, many other artists at various times and places have been inspired by painting and its grand masters, using different techniques and forms, each influenced in its way by that which went before.

On the ground floor of the GAM, the splendid rooms of this museum, founded and fostered by a series of bequests and donations from committed, generous Milanese collectors, are playing host to one of the most extensive exhibitions ever organized, with masterpieces from the UBS Art Collection, one of the major international corporate collections. They do this by recreating a very specific kind of experience in order to give visitors the impression that they are entering a huge treasure trove of paintings. The backdrop reflects the longstanding heritage of the museum, a place where paintings acquire particular significance as soon as they are brought into dialogue with other paintings, between the past and the present. The pictures appear to be suspended in mid-air in the museum, with the walls of the exhibition rooms covered with photographs showing what the rooms of the GAM look like when they’re showcasing its permanent collection. The rooms represent the history of the museum, with the UBS Art Collection adding an important new phase to that history.

In this respect, the title “Don’t Shoot the Painter” is an ironic reference to the phrase “don’t shoot the pianist”, which is often heard in Western films: whenever the ideas and languages of art intermingle, making it difficult to decipher the meaning of the component parts, painting comes back into the spotlight to draw attention to what can be easily recognized and interpreted by everyone, in the same way as the pianist’s music restores order to the chaos in the saloon in Westerns. Ultimately, a painter is always a painter and face to face with a canvas. It doesn’t even matter who the artist is; we know that we’re dealing with the “archetypal space” of art. So let’s not shoot the painter. Let’s listen to his music...

“This exhibition continues the success of the three-year partnership between GAM and UBS. The bank doesn’t just support the activities of the Galleria but also proposes original exhibitions, drawing on its own art collection with meticulous curatorial attention,” explained City Counselor for Culture filippo Del Corno. A project that is perfect for ExpoinCittà, capable of marrying painting and art in a contemporary perspective, thus not just enhancing the attractiveness of the GAM, which already offers the public a newly prepared exhibition spanning the period from neoclassicism to modern art, but also boosting the comprehensive cultural assets of our city during the six months of Expo 2015.”

“While thinking of an exhibition on the idea of painting, we also considered how to transform the experience of the exhibition itself into a painting. That’s why we decided to hang the works one above the other, using images of the existing areas of the museum and all its collection as a backdrop. As a result, the impression is given of seeing the works floating in the air, in a uniquely surreal gallery, in which the works abandon their physical nature and become what they really are, that is symbols containing images, stories and ideas,” points out francesco Bonami, the curator.

The exhibition is a product of the three-year partnership initiated in 2013, between UBS and the GAM in Milan, which has enabled the Galleria d’Arte Moderna to concentrate its efforts on appraising, maintaining and disseminating some key focal points with a strong identity in its own collection in the museum’s permanent exhibition. Last year, the partnership also facilitated the restoration and reopening of the Grassi and Vismara collections, as well as the room dedicated to Medardo Rosso, with a revised exhibition layout. Moreover, UBS and the GAM also collaborate on content and ideas: this gave rise to the exhibition “YEAR AFTER YEAR. Works on paper from the UBS Art Collection” from March to June 2014, which was a great public success.

Through its partnership with the GAM, UBS has been able, for example with the two exhibitions drawn from its collection, to actively participate in the cultural growth and development of Milan. UBS’ aim is not just to showcase its own collection but also to focus attention on the topic of art collections. The act of collecting in itself was the meeting point for GAM and UBS: the Galleria d’Arte Moderna in Milan is “home” to some of the best expressions of Milanese and Lombardian collecting. Within this context, the support for culture and public collections, prompted the decision in favor of an ad hoc project in Milan, to rediscover one of the city’s most fascinating art centers.