PAPERON DE PAPERONI “I BUY S&P 500 I BUY AMERICA!” | ISABELLA ACCENTI

Past and present, two distinct concepts but, in a certain sense, also consequential, indissolubly linked to each other. The practice of Isabella Accenti (Milan, 1974) consists of exploring this dynamic, studying the passage of time and seeking connections between what has been and what is ongoing.

Defined by the artist herself as “photographic paintings,” Accenti’s artworks are the result of a long creative and manual process, carried out using a particular mixed technique. Starting with the retrieval of archival images, the artist digitally adds graphic elements inspired by early 20th-century avant-garde movements. Then, she begins a complex manual process, alternating stages of fixing, washing, and drying on special cotton paper.
When observing the result, it is difficult to discern whether it is a collage, a painting, or a print of a digital image.

Paperon de Paperoni “I buy S&P 500 I buy America!” is part of Disney Collection, a project created by the artist in 2023 on commission from a Milanese collector, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the famous brand’s founding. The six artworks that make up this series are all unique pieces.
As the title suggests, the protagonist is Disney’s famous billionaire duck. The image shows Scrooge McDuck surrounded by the logos of some of the wealthiest and most famous American companies—Paramount, McDonald’s, eBay, Nike, to name a few—while he tosses coins into the air, collected from the pile on which he is comfortably seated.
The duck’s love for wealth is made explicit by the heart accompanying the phrase spoken in the panel—“I buy S&P 500 I buy America!”—a line that includes a reference to one of the most important U.S. stock indices, the Standard & Poor’s 500. Accenti’s goal is to connect the world of childhood with that of adulthood, represented respectively by cartoon characters and by more or less explicit economic references.

Placing a Disney character, even one as wealthy as Scrooge McDuck, in the same context as Wall Street creates a sharp semantic contrast that the artist seeks and pursues.
However, the effect is not disturbing; instead, it is intriguing, thanks to the particular mixed technique employed.
With this project, Accenti has skillfully intertwined two otherwise separate realities, finding a thread that is not immediately identifiable: the viewer themselves.

Isabella Accenti
Paperon de Paperoni “I buy S&P 500 I buy America!”, 2023
Mixed media, 100% Arches cotton paper 300 g, 73,5 x 73,5 cm
Unique piece, Private collection, Milan
Courtesy the artist

26/10/24