A man with a hidden face, is looking for an essential response between memories and doubts
intrinsic of a surrealist vision.

A room with large windows embraces a surreal environment in which a mysterious man with a hat
is desperately looking for something. Curious people appear at the window until an unexpected
visit suddenly poses a question. As in a closed circle with no apparent way out, may two halves
finally come together and disclose the secret behind a locked door?

I know, I cannot find it…it keeps moving… like a perception, an awareness that wriggles out of my grip. Like a name, or forgotten symbol, like a lost memory which I feel the only absence of,
the void of its disappearance.

“The Missing Trait” depicts the sensations and thoughts of a man at a turning point in his life. The
text is intentionally ambiguous, leaving each viewer to his or her own interpretation, which may
change, according to each individual experience and background. The viewer will notice the many
references to the surrealist movement, as many paintings, sculptures and treaties by Magritte, De
Chirico, Dalì and Breton are here reinterpreted and inserted in a new context, as a tribute to these
great artists. An attentive eye will also capture the multiple additional meanings of every object
and every word. Like many Surrealists, I have used the solitary technique of automatic writing: I
have laid out a sketch of linked scenes, and from these I have distilled a rationalization of my
subconscious. The set itself was conceived to represent the division between the left (rational)
and the right (irrational) side of the mind. Here, we have simplified the functions and transposed
emotions through the use of special furniture and objects, while the evolution of the protagonist’s
thought is symbolized through figures, icons and objects associations. As part of the story, famous
paintings are evoked that represent the essential moments of the character’s personal quest: a
man who apparently has no personality, yet searches through a code of superficial normality, a
rather deeper intrinsic meaning.

And here I am, once again… looking at myself, judging… to make sure that what I so hardly looked for…
wouldn’t disappear again, vanishing among the memories of a lifetime or the foolish thinking of a madman.