Hernan Bas' 'The Visitors' Paintings Debut at Ca’ Pesaro
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- Hernan Bas has been living in Venice this year, painting tourists, and his studio overlooks the lagoon.
- Hernan Bas is a Cuban‑American artist from Miami who notes that his Venetian neighbourhood is now dominated by Airbnbs, to the point where taxi drivers ask him where he’s visiting from.
- The Visitors exhibition of 30 paintings by Bas will be shown at Ca’ Pesaro, the International Gallery of Modern Art in Venice, alongside the Venice Biennale from 7 May to 30 August.
- The Visitors series depicts only young men—mostly white—using satirical and bleak narratives, with titles drawn from real TripAdvisor reviews and invented backstories.
- The Conceptualists is another recent series by Bas that satirically portrays handsome young men as artists with absurd practices, emphasizing his “stagecraft” approach.
- Hernan Bas says his work is driven by storytelling; he creates entire fictional biographies for each subject, sometimes incorporating actual online reviews.
- Hernan Bas has requested that the curtains at Ca’ Pesaro be drawn back during his show to give visitors a “tourist moment” with a view of the Grand Canal.
Why it matters: It brings Bas's commentary on tourism to a high‑profile venue, giving museum audiences a chance to confront the paradox of Venice’s allure and its overrun by short‑term rentals, while boosting the museum’s program during the Biennale. It also underscores the artist’s use of narrative and staged backstories, which may influence how contemporary art engages with travel culture.
