Ezio Gribaudo (1929–2022) was a prolific, wide-ranging artist based in Torino whose most renowned works involve blind-embossing card or other pliable material. To mark the 60th anniversary of his winning the Grand Prize for an exhibition of such pieces at the 1966 Venice Biennial, I conceived of this series of fifteen unique T-shirts – a kind of “catalogue for the body” – for Archivio Gribaudo, which is based in his former house and studio.

Thirteen of the shirts are emblazoned with a title of one of the Venice works that he enigmatically named with terms or neologisms loosely drawn from the technics of typography. They were printed in white ink on off-white fabric, along with a definition on the back and the Archivio’s logo on the inside. The remaining two, printed red instead of white, carry the project’s title “Genealogy of a Name,” and the term he eventually settled on a year after the Biennial, “Logogrifo.” A small card was attached to each shirt, with an image of the corresponding work and a few other details.

With thanks to Lilou Vidal for the invitation, and for doing all the research.

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