#Justanumber Series/20

#Justanumber – African masks (2020)
Wood, , acrylics colors, enamels, metallic pigments, emergency thermal blanckets and epoxy resin, dim. 100 x 100 cm

#Justanumber (2020) continues the series that started the previous year. More masks, then, masks that mark precise identities: sun masks that powerfully display their vitality, and night masks, which hint at their otherness, beyond the bounds of our comprehension.

However, as with the previous series, these pieces, these men, reach our perception as castaways, as silent screams that we are afraid to hear or see.

These are violent, almost aggressive pieces, whose acid colours trace brutal lines across the black background, utilizing the brilliant metallic coldness of materials that were originally meant to be used to create warmth, but that can also become defensive instruments, like shields.

Here, geographic coordinates are transformed into one of the central elements of the mask’s face, tracing the contours of its lips, and sealing in its words.

These are the screaming masks of a humanity that will no longer be ignored.

Patrizia Gelli
Art Historian