Deus Ex Machina |
“Macri occasionally presents us with the comic and satirical, just for the fun of it, just to turn our self-importance and pomposity upside down, as in the clever portrait with the highly-charged name, Deus Ex Machina, which reminds me of a 19th century London chimney sweep. Both funny and disturbing, the figure seems to be laden with a jumble of elements taken from other portraits, as if the artist is making fun, not only of himself, but also of someone like me who tries to meander among the intimations and imagine plausible scenarios.”
"Oddly, I now begin to view the wonderfully comic Deux Ex Machina as a portrait of Death, a kind of trickster figure who appears suddenly, like supernatural intervention, to solve the mystery and end the game. And so, despite my own descent into melancholy, I don’t feel the Hour of Lead applies to this portrait as much as it does to Salvo."
~ Kenneth Radu (The Agonies & The Execution: Portraits by Adamo Macri)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"First impression - Victorian Mystery Man.. a Gentleman who hides his identity, not because he is choosing to be deceptive, but rather - to pass by undetected/anonymous in order to slip away into the shadows."
~ Theresa Pope Church (American scientist)
Deus Ex Machina, 2022
Photography: Chromogenic C-print
51 x 51 cm