Curated by Alessandra Santin and Giulia Adami
With the collaboration of Michele Filippi

Identità virtuali (Virtual Identities) interconnects Piergiorgio Del Ben’s artistic projects, which elect the human being as the absolute protagonist of his poetics. Del Ben reasons about human actions and physiognomies, nullifying the perspectives and distinctive signs of the context in which the figures move. Homogeneous backgrounds, compact and unreal colors accomplish this task, with estranging irony. Devoid of individual points of reference rooted in personal history, the contemporary human being renounces his own name and gaze, showing himself by synthesis of lines and colors.
The absence of symbolic boundaries, characteristic of a globalized world, makes these characters incapable of going beyond appearance.

PIERGIORGIO DEL BEN
Piergiorgio Del Ben (Pordenone, 1990) graduated in painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, where he started his first artistic project, Business Story, awarded by the Bevilacqua la Masa Foundation of Venice in 2012. His research investigates the human figure in relation to contemporary society, and his compositions are characterized by a strong simplification of strokes and backgrounds. Following his move to Milan, the artist continued to favor minimal brushstrokes and an aseptic, unreal palette to accentuate the tragic nature and anonymity of the faces and protagonists of his works. The Anonymous Project series was selected in the Under25 of the 2013 “Artelaguna” award and the “Art Prize”, Academy section 2015.
After graduating with a master’s degree in Product Design, from the Brera Academy of Fine Arts, the artist continued his research by making Mind Vogue, which investigates individual disorientation in a culture that dwells particularly on the superficiality of appearances. Currently, his artistic research is linked to the most recent project LOST MEN.