HUMANITAS

In the contortion of the face there is […] the restlessness of each individual, who shows himself to the other in his authenticity. The author's interest and concern do not arise, therefore, from the will of a mere physiognomic representation, but from the need to define what a face is and how it expresses the world it carries within itself, with itself and outside itself. Dimastrogiovanni's painting shakes and worries the viewer, as it arouses the lucid awareness of never being able to put an end to self-knowledge. Curiosity and discomfort arise within the observer, both because the identity of each one becomes exposed and subject to refutation, and because the ego realizes the irremediable split between interiority and exteriority.

Vincenzo Restelli