From 5 to 19 November 2021 the CD Studio d'Arte Gallery in Padua hosts an exhibition of works of art and street art prints dedicated to the legendary " Smile ".
The smile or smiley , the happy laughing yellow face, is one of the most used emoticons on social networks and messaging programs such as WhatsApp and Telegram. Younger people and digital natives probably think it's a recent invention, spread hand in hand with smartphones, but in reality this cute image is over sixty years old and has a history full of meanings, which make it still the protagonist of illustrations today and works of art, particularly in the fields of urban art and of street art . 
It seems that the US graphic designer Harvey Ball was the first to put two black dots and a semicircle on a yellow colored circle, thus stylizing a smiling face. The year was 1963: Ball had been commissioned by an insurance company to create a new easy-to-read logo. However, the yellow smiley was never registered as a trademark and soon became accessible to anyone who wanted to use it. It is precisely this "free" nature that probably decreed its success in the years to come: this symbol was very important for the hippy counterculture , fashion and information technology.
Associated with ideas of peace, freedom and happiness, the smile is today also one of the favorite subjects of many artists who love to reproduce it on prints, canvases, stickers, road signs and other materials. Everyone declines it according to his sensitivity and with the desire to give a smile to those who observe his work.
The smile is also a subject loved by many artists in our Gallery, which is why we have decided to collect their personal interpretations in a dedicated exhibition. From 5 to 19 November 2021 come and visit us in Piazzetta Buonarroti in Padua, you will be able to see the smile Of Alessio-B , Any , Shife , Karsenty , ZeroMental , Giampietro Cudin , e Mr Pig. To see the works online click here .
We are waiting for you, admission is free!
“Smile Synapses Blue Edition” – Mental Zero
“Anti Pop” – Shife VHRO
“Happy Smile” – David Karsenty