By Annalina Grasso
Published May 3, 2021

The art of Santiago Ribeiro of Portugal was, is, and could still be a vision of the minds of all of us, especially in this historical moment, made of lockdown, distance learning and physical distancing that generates anxiety and stress in us, anguish and fear of the future.Can we look at the Coronavirus pandemic, the changing world, the lockdown and the restrictions in a different way? How many times have we thought about freeing our impulses?

International artist and founder of the New Surrealism Now, Santiago Ribeiro, shows us our unconscious in a video made by three Italians to pay homage to his movement which can also tell us a lot about ourselves in relation to the time we are living.

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The art of Santiago Ribeiro of Portugal was, is, and could still be a vision of the minds of all of us, especially in this historical moment, made of lockdown, distance learning and physical distancing that generates anxiety and stress in us, anguish and fear of the future.

Italian actor Maurizio BianucciWhat could be inside our minds that are exhausted by restrictions and at the same time by the fear of the COVID19 contagion? A desire to get rid of the clothes of the decent citizen, of the civil, Christian, rational man, snubbing free will, and following only one’s instinct, the dark side of oneself. Living in a society as the Marquis De Sade imagined and hoped for, where there can be no punishment or trials for evil deeds, as man follows what Nature creates and destroys.

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Sicilian poet Vincenzo Cali,However, the video by three Italian artists—Italian actor Maurizio Bianucci, Sicilian poet Vincenzo Cali, journalist Annalina Grasso—seems to work on the premise called heterogenesis of ends, that is, through ‘the vision of what could be if’, it leads us to aspire to something else and to become more and more aware of the contradiction between necessity and good and, rediscovering the foundation true of the dignity and worth of us human beings, in order not to be either blind or naked and wander in perennial uncertainty, but by appealing to the impersonal that is present in each person to overcome overwhelming anxieties and fears. Art with the support of technology helps us to do it, even from a distance, showing us how similar we can be during these perilous times.

Ribeiro, whose works flow in Times Square, New York, United States of America, shows us how we probably would be if we totally freed our unconscious minds and impulses: naked and blind, not really free and happy but lost in euphoria.

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