Sul Volto is an exhibition in which artist Dionigi Mattia Gagliardi shows some drawings from the series Atlante delle espressioni facciali and delivers a performance. Thus, Numero Cromatico’s space becomes a laboratory where Gagliardi presents parts of a project he has been working on since 2010.

In the first room, five performers enact Partitura di emozioni (2020), provided by the artist. The performers try to execute the score of emotions, while the artist registers the similarities and differences in the execution of the task. The results are emotional tableau vivant, outcomes of the unique facial expressions of each performer. 

In the second room, drawings from the series Atlante delle espressioni facciali (2012) hang on the gallery walls.

The face, its expressions and its projective possibilities are some of the artist’s topics of interest. Percezione culturale di sei volti from 2010, is an artwork/research project that explores to what extent facial characteristics influence perception. 

The face is a powerful projective stimulus, an important tool that serves to build relationships with others, something that goes beyond language. It communicates even without actual intentionality; it activates automatically in response to events; its expressions are inscribed in our genetic code. For these reasons, we recognise emotions such as fear, joy, surprise and anger in every face.  

Gagliardi’s research on facial expressions is part of a fundamental field of painting, namely portraiture. Yet, he approaches it from a different perspective - the study of expressions in order to trace their topographic basis. The face here becomes a map to investigate, deconstruct and to be used as a tool for the creation of new images.