Giovanni Pastori, SELF-PORTRAIT WITH CAT
The large wall of the convent presented the city with a self-portrait very different from the one of the previous year. The author is a young artist and illustrator who is highly appreciated in Italy and abroad, and has been named by Forbes as one of the 30-under-30. His images, apparently simple and playful, sometimes conceal their meaning out of shyness. This is the case with this self-portrait in which the artist has portrayed himself as a very strong boy, but engaged in a very sweet and innocent act, that of caring for a kitten. It is precisely this union between strength and gentleness that is the meaning of the work, which aims to underline how gentleness is actually great strength. And how welcoming the weak is the true heroic gesture of our time. The face is not represented, because the image is autobiographical, but what it tells is a story of strength and gentleness that anyone can make their own, perhaps at a precise moment in their lives.
THE ARTWORK
Self-Portrait with Cat, 2017, wallpaper