Salvatore Iaconesi

Mapping a Cure:  portrait of Salvatore Iaconesi

In October 2012, I read about Italian artist, Salvatore Isconesi, who, when diagnosed with a brain tumor, chose to put all of his medical records online.  As an open source artist, he welcomed world-wide opinions, view points, art, poetry, music, and more to be generated in regard to his situation, thus returning him from case study back to human being.

Using a re-purposed,1960s era abstract expressionist canvas rendered in red and green, I gridded the surface with masking tape and began to paint.  During various stages, some of the tape was removed, the new paint was scrapped off, and the portrait continued to emerge.  The style is loose and mottled, with much of the left side of Iaconesi's forehead missing.  There, I pinned a small round compass, so that whatever the orientation of the painting, the direction is always on course.