The Embrace B Version

Artwork Forty Eight

… an Embrace not only as a work of art but also as a social message against discrimination. A hug to connect people…

Year: 2016

Dimensions: 255cm x 175cm

Technique: Palette knife oil on canvas

Description of the Artwork

This oil on canvas tapestry was created by Cesare Catania entirely with a spatula, inspired by a one version of the same subject created a few years earlier.

The Embrace is understood by the author between two people. The choice to represent the two figures with different colors highlights how this contemporary work of art is directly connected to the themes of anti-Semitism and racism, which for Cesare Catania are reconciled in an embrace.
The two figures in the act of embracing each other seem to overlap one another, almost as if they were giving each other protection and stability. One exists and can only exist as a function of the other.

L’Abbraccio B Version — 48-abbraccio-b-version-400x400

"L'Abbraccio" è un opera di arte contemporanea realizzata ad olio su tela dal pittore e scultore Cesare Catania — L'Abbraccio - Cesare Catania - Arte Contemporanea

The stylistic evolution

The Embrace in a Digital Key

“… in this case, the digital work of art, initially created to explain the genesis of the inspiration of a physical piece, ends up becoming an autonomous work of art…”

(Cesare Catania)

In 2023 Cesare Catania created The Embrace G Version, a digital version of the canvas of the same name created in 2016. The G Version digitally represents the birth process of the B Version, breaking down the artist’s feelings and emotions into individual atoms and recomposing them in an animated reinterpretation of a work that could be defined as cubist, three-dimensional and kinetic at the same time.

The Importance of an Embrace

The first work entitled “The Embrace” by Cesare Catania is the A Version and was created in 2015. A simple work, created with wax crayons on paper. The artwork entitled “The Embrace A Version” ,despite its simplicity, is fundamental in the art of Cesare Catania. It is in fact the first of a series that will give life not only to a personal artistic journey of the artist linked to the specific theme but also to a high profile socio-cultural artistic project.

Starting from this first work and those to come, contemporary art exhibitions will be created by the Italian artist over the years. We mention just a few of them below:

in 2016 at the Swiss Institute of Lugano during the International Week of Italian Culture and Language, an event supported by the Embassies of the Swiss Confederation, the Presidency of the Italian Republic, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Italian Consulate, the theme of the Embrace was addressed by exposing the the work of the same name (this time the B Version)
in 2018 one of Cesare Catania’s Abbracci was exhibited in Montecarlo at the Meridien Hub Gallery
In 2019 the Museum of the Villa Reale in Monza hosts a retrospective of Cesare Catania, an exhibition in which among others one of Cesare Catania’s “hugs” is also exhibited
In 2022 the Metaverse opens its doors to the Embrace for the first time, exhibiting among the artist’s many works, also two versions of the Embrace. The exhibition in Cesare Catania’s personal gallery within the Spatial Metaverse can be online visited from any device.
On November 17, 2022, the Embrace Project was officially presented at Pirelli Palace of the Lombardy Region on the occasion of which two of Cesare Catania’s embraces were admired
in March and April 2023, during one of the stages of the Embrace Project on display at the Museum of Poetry in Piacenza, among the 20 exhibited works by Cesare Catania, 5 different Embraces by Cesare Catania are exhibited
In June and July 2023, 3 Abbracci were exhibited at Cesare Catania’s personal exhibition at Palazzo Donà dalle Rose, an exhibition entitled “The Embrace: the Laboratory of Emotions”
In November 2023, within the exhibition entitled “Artistic Sketches: where Inspiration is born” an entire section dedicated to hugs will be exhibited, including pictorial and sculptural versions as well as an unpublished version of the artistic sketch of the sculptural version of the Embrace.
From 20.04 to 24.11 2024 the exhibition of the sculptural version of the Embrace at the 80th edition of the Venice Biennale, inside the National Pavilion of Cameroon
From 20.04 to 24.11 2024 the exhibition of the sculptural version of the Embrace at the 80th edition of the Venice Biennale, inside the National Pavilion of Cameroon

… and many more …

Cultural Background

The first Embrace Not forgets for ever...

This means that Abbraccio A Version is considered a milestone in Cesare Catania’s contemporary art and in his artistic evolution.

An Artwork that not only represents the beginning of a collection but also of a thought of democratic art which for the artist will transform into an artistic and socio-cultural project, a project that will lead him to be nominated for 2023 Unique ambassador in the world for International Hugging Day.

Art as a Social Message

The Embrace Project

“”… art is no longer seen as the ultimate goal aimed at by the Artist but as a means to do good in an ethical manner…””

(Cesare Catania)

Appointed as Global Unique Ambassador for National Hugging Day in 2023

An Embrace is worth more than 1000 Words

What seemed to be a simple work of art becomes a vision for Cesare Catania… Hence the desire to create numerous embraces over the years, with always different techniques but all linked to a single theme: that according to which “a hug is worth more than 1000 words…“