Composed from vintage Italian magazines, Severe centers on the figure of a child set against imposing architectural forms. The child’s body, interrupted by cuts and overlays, becomes a site of tension where innocence collides with systems of authority and social order. A small textual fragment placed across the eyes functions as both censorship and command. The collage is constructed through cutting, tearing, layering, and reassembling paper. Visible seams and ruptures remain intact, allowing the image to hold its own fragility. Buildings, symbolic objects, and figures intersect without hierarchy, evoking the rigid frameworks within which identity is shaped from an early age. The historical source material retains its weight, carrying the visual codes of mid-twentieth-century Italy, an era marked by reconstruction and conformity. Rather than depicting severity as strength, the work exposes it as a brittle structure. Authority appears sustained through repetition and restraint, yet vulnerable once disrupted. Demetrio Di Grado is an Italian contemporary artist whose practice evolved from hip-hop and street culture into a distinctive language of analogue collage. Since 2016, he has worked with imagery sourced from 1930s–1950s magazines, creating emotionally charged compositions centered on the human figure. With over twenty years of practice and international exhibitions, Di Grado is regarded as a leading figure in Sicilian contemporary art.
