Untitled (diario)
2019 / in progress / Acrylic and pataplumb on canvas / 10x20 cm; 20x30 cm; 30x30 cm;


The Chinese artist Ren Hang (30th March 1987 - 24th February 2017) kept a diary of his depression on his official website. To do this he used his mother tongue: no official translation exists. I asked a Chinese friend to translate some fragments taken from the artist’s diary. Since he is not a translator, he returned to me a text in which the errors, made visual and perceptual, evoke the untranslatability of an intimate feeling and, at the same time, give voice to inner imbalance. From the text returned to me, I selected some words for the ability to describe the spirit of the time. The colors - gold and silver, usually associated with the sacred, or pastel shade - are used as a wrapper which reveals a message of a pain which is neglected, relatable and contemporary.