Fabio Masotti

My works take the form of the heart, or at least the form that humans use to depict it, but the form is also the only concession to figuration and can be so seductive that it becomes impossible to go beyond it. This often happens in life too, but the story lies beyond it: the image, the icon of the work, is merely its media container, a limit that asks to be overcome. For years, my artistic and human journey has been devoted to a project that seeks to restore centrality to "man" and to his spiritual nature, convinced that this may be the only path towards a possible rebirth, an earthly rebirth even before any rebirth that might be granted by God. This rebirth, however, requires a change, a new way of thinking, as revolutionary as it is ancient, a thought that places at the centre the true essence of our being and frees all the love of which it is capable in order to fuel our soul with new energy and change the world. I believe that the soul may be the spirit spoken of in so many religions, that breath which keeps us alive and raises us to the condition of children of God, a gift we have a duty to nurture, a sacred body that must be nourished and that does not feed on flesh. In my works, the archetypal form of the heart becomes temple and guardian of the temple, the password for access to its very contents, the account of a secular pilgrimage towards knowledge. I believe we must reclaim this extraordinary symbol and restore to it all its profound meaning. The heart is the banner of a sacredness that needs no religion, and a symbol of love universally shared. It is that powerful organ that drives life through our veins every day, nourishing our brain and our actions. We must put the heart back at the centre of our existence, of our politics, of our faith, of our being civil society, and once again forcefully affirm the centrality of the human being.