Study on cutting an ear

The project Study on cutting an ear, brings into discussion one of the favorite myths of art, namely, the sacrifice of the author. At the end of the nineteenth century, in full effervescence of impressionism and post impressionism, Van Gogh, in an act of insanity, does the most absurd and the most touching gesture that an artist can make: he cuts his own ear. Around Van Gogh's gesture has been said and written too much, but what stays important is the emotion of the gesture, because it is not the easiest thing to cut your own ear. The artist, was living at the limit of failure, both personal and professional: he didn’t sell, lived off his brother, and had no family. The only joy he had left was painting, and even that was misunderstood by his contemporaries. What was left to do? He cut his own ear. Why not take out an eye?

Study on cutting of an ear becomes the engine project that questions the author's relationship with his work. What makes one get scourged in public or in private? What can be within an artist's gesture? And especially, where starts the artwork? Cutting own ear may be seen as a performing, visual mutilation that leaves deep scars on psychological level, as well as painting or post performing betrays the scenery gesture. Thus, self-portrait with cut ear becomes the flag of self-proclaimed martyr, justified by the misunderstanding that surrounds him, and the stigmas canonize him and pass him among the great masters. The artist, with this project, studied his ancestors imitating their desperate gestures. The myth of the misunderstood artist, in a romantic way, still impresses through its drama. Searching for sensational in this "show off society", the trauma is mimed. What should the artist do to be noticed? Should he cut his own ear too?

The first part of the project includes ten nib studies, 42 x 29.7 cm, done after one of the two self-portraits of Van Gogh's: "Self-portrait with bandaged ear", made in January 1889. The ten studies deepens the meditation on despair of the artistic creation, offering favorable condition to simulate the gesture. In the second part of the project, I mime the despair of gesture in front of the camera / audience, even if straight mimic catches the intensity of living in a vastly smaller amount. The photo session (performative) amplifies the intensity of the gesture, becoming a topic worthy of a tabloid also serving as support for a new series of ten drawings / paintings from these photos. The dimensions of studies multiply obsessively trying to say: This could happen in any building on this street without anyone knowing a thing. This is the artist's drama: to have his work appreciated only after his death or after being "canonized". The last part of the project aims to achieve a performative self-portrait as in the case of Van Gogh, during which I pose in the gallery space where the exhibition of the martyr is exposed, showing the public the alleged earmark.

The Study on cutting an ear is a poetic gesture, reflective, a gesture that has already been done and that should not be ignored. We do not need another Van Gogh. The artist is here, he is breathing..... the artist is still alive.