Federico Lombardo
I am interested in creating formal and conceptual tensions; faces which in appearance seem gentle and pure can hide a soul embodying the exact opposite. The final result is that the represented characters seem to be a little like aliens yet want to reflect their very own formal codes and who only in appearance are like human beings. The face becomes a map which if deconstructed can make us understand the origin of emotions, starting for example from the formal study of the eye, or from the relationship between the cheek and the mouth. The technique of painting has a sense in a context, open to a philosophical conceptual reflection on Man and the world. In this context, the very act of painting and of drawing itself can be seen as a method of acknowledging reality, filtered by the mind and by the 'stomach'. Maybe, this is the most simple and direct way yet the one most prone to misunderstandings. © Federico Lombardo (1970, Castellammare di Stabia/Italy)