2-minute reading time.
“I see myself as a child, watching the swallows in spring, the flocks of birds performing acrobatics, drawing elegant shapes in constant movement, full of sounds. Enchanted by the spectacle, it is impossible to take my eyes away from that sublime harmony of nature.” — Anonymous
Facing a blank page, in need of inspiration, I move lazily over the table. Anxious, I throw the clean sheet of paper, now crumpled into a ball, toward my basket-shaped waste bin. It didn’t go in.
The work of the contemporary artist requires a certain dose of pain, of premeditated suffering, the glimpse of his deep wound, in order to be authentic and meaningful. A tranquil life, a safe life, is insipid—long, but devoid of value. I am not saying we should risk everything at every moment, but neither should we lose our lives in front of the television, the mobile phone, useless entertainment, or bad pastimes.
In one way or another, I observe myself rejecting, in a generalized way, the fear of pain—physical, psychic—of frustration, of discomfort, of the negative. This rejection has sculpted hypersensitive individuals, little prepared to face adversity, conflict, or even constructive criticism. Narcissistic individuals within a hedonistic society. How can we identify them?
Usually, we find ourselves seeking comfort, avoiding unpleasant experiences, covering our fears, looking at ourselves without thinking of the Other. Usually, as a result of that narcissism, we find ourselves feeling the best wishes for others while procrastinating our best actions. A shapeless fog in our mind desires a better society. We think of ourselves as good people. It could not be otherwise; Stalin, Hitler, and Pol Pot thought so too. This ends up leading us to a kind of social infantilization, where a life free of obstacles and suffering is expected—another difficulty for the development of our mental strength. I wonder if it is the fault of the screen. Technology exposes our lack of maturity. Apparently, we find children educating children, children legislating for children, and children informing children. Individuals acting instinctively, automatically, like self-directed robots.
“Excerpt from: Abate Bussoni, ‘On the Good, the Beautiful, and the True in Contemporary Art’. The full text is available in issue no. 26 of ARTNOBEL Inspiration Review of Contemporary Art, December 2025.”