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Introduction

SELFPORTRAIT

 

STORY OR CONFESSION?

 
What do I want to talk about? About everything (...) that makes me think.
(From "A Writer’s Diary" by Fyodor Dostoevsky, 1873) 

‘Describe what happens inside us when we think? Describe: seeing the form of the thought in movement (…). Not an autobiography, but a history of what happens inside us when we think.’

(from Enzo Paci’s ‘Diario fenomenologico’, 3 July 1958)


"He had said everything he could say about the theoretical meaning of his poetic output. Now he could return to that which he had always done, the direct and exclusive writing of poetry; and that was all."
(Giuseppe Bevilacqua in the introduction to Paul Celan’s "La verità della poesia")




An objective, compulsive description with no layers. A demystification of the creative process. A way of making a fact present, to present an act: that’s what this is.
Logical and para-logical reasonings that produce things which counteract the idea of art as a purely ideal creation. A direct communication with no emphasis. An evisceration.
The process is shown, the thought is made accessible, the way of thinking, seeing and acting opens shamelessly towards the exterior to the extent of seeming pathetic and ridiculous.
The flurry of thought is revealed in an attempt to get closer to others and ensure that others can make it become their own. Confessions are made to highlight everything, to be understood to the very core – if such a thing is possible.
 
It is not the development of a metaphysics that starts from a centre branching out towards the outside so much as pieces of unconnected thoughts, many of which are repeated and insistent, which are modified and change the terrain on which they are unceasingly placed.

By “Self-Portrait” I don’t mean a narcissistic form of self-exhibition, but a self-representation that is searching for a relationship. 
You have to take responsibility for your own intimacy, you have to start with yourself, with the uniqueness that every person represents. It is only by setting aside one’s own subjectivity and one’s own reciprocal differences that I see the possibility of a dialogue. It is an individuality that can only exist, however, by relating to another’s individuality. 
It is like setting one’s own voice in this world which declares itself for what it is. It’s like saying: “I am here, and I am like this”. 
In order to try and carve out a place to stay in the world, to declare one’s own point of view. A position that is manifested in order to seek a relationship, a dialogue. Almost like an ad that says: “Looking for an interlocutor!”
 
This part of the site has been constructed like a book that leads the reader into my personal point of view about the work. 
A story; almost like a visit to the studio, which accompanies you on a walk around my space, my world… 

A discourse opens; not just of what I think the work is about, but of everything I believe is a view of my world. 
A meta-work that describes mental processes and procedures, but abstains from saying anything about the work (one should let the work speak its own language without overriding it with words).

Narrating to think, to think about a practice, an action. 
It exteriorises the perception I have of myself, and as such is a thing that can change over time. 

It is for this reason that the chapters might grow, or change order, transform, lengthen, shorten and even disappear or be substituted by others. 

The argument remains open. I do not draw conclusions. The interpretation is left to you, the "public". I'm stepping out of the role of creator. Me too I become a spectator.


The book is divided into various chapters, each of which starts with an introduction.
The quotes that opens the chapters, almost every one, are extracted from private diaries taken from my library of diaries.
Together, the words that define the titles and the subititles sum up the meaning of my work. They are all verbs or phrases, which express and action and remark an ongoing process. 
The images chosen to open the chapters are not my works but are rather evocations or suggestions. In some cases I made them and in others I didn’t. However, they always have something directly to do with my life and what I do. 
Finally, you reach my work, the singular works, one by one via the titles of the paragraphs in the index.

(Written in 2015. Modified in 2018, 2019, 2022, 2024)
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My father’s pen, which he used for writing in his diary for most of his life
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Ph. F. Allegretto, 2011