BODY ILLUSION + BLACK

Once again the body is the chosen theme in order to develop a research on illusion and deception. In this case the proposed images are self referential, thus producing an illegitimate presence, expressed through a deliberate ambiguity (as opposed to “body illusion”, where the fake flesh’s density fades away in a mental perceptive immateriality). This illegitimate presence aims to be assumed as a proper definition of reality (“body”), in virtue of its descriptive qualities. Colours, volumes, a depth of field sensation highlighted by the obscure presence of the background: it’s through these fundamental inputs that the image uses itself as a sign of perceptive confusion, creating an illusory plastic presence, in order to clearly assert its corporeal determination.

“I AM BODY AND I PROVE IT BECAUSE YOU LOOK AT ME AND YOU SEE A BODY”.

It’s over this assumption that the image moves itself aside to let the darkness breath. It makes itself available, it sets itself in a composite equilibrium, trying to reach an aesthetical consent which would elude every kind of perceptive suspiciousness. It’s an image that puts you in a hurry, that wants to be grasped right away; it contextually shows aspects of and references to an aesthetical classicism which leads to a critical reflection: why Caravaggio, Bacon, Rothko?
We’re no longer deciding whether the image is credible or not; now we are wondering if it is right to abuse it, or if its artistic qualities protect it from our voyeurism. This consideration legitimates the image by providing it with a “deceitful” existence and giving it an ethical presence created by a perceptive distortion.

The images in body illusion + black were taken with a digital camera. The image has not been altered, cut, nor elaborated digitally.
As in body illusion, there are no shots of human bodies.

felix dario ruggeri