Someone you know well

portraits of Antonio

photos

drawings

digital drawings

paintings

of the same person

over the years

of the one you know well enough

even to draw without looking

but which is the real Antonio

the one photographed

or the one drawn spontaneously

or the one painted from memory

or the one

depicted once from life

then reworked over and over

in order to

find the real spirit

of Antonio

can anyone find the real spirit of someone at all

in your mind

or in reality

or what if

that person's spirit

is forever on the move

so much on the move

that you can't quite locate it

even with the time

even with the best technical means:

such as a frozen moment captured

with the lens

or the most capable hands of drawing-

Because resemblance

is not equated to spiritual essence

But with many attempts

of various efforts

somehow

you seem to have caught what you want to catch:

that one moment-

perhpas you feel:

Ah, that is Antonio

Whether Antonio agrees with your vision or not

is yet another story

Is he Antonio

or is he someone else

or is someone else trying to look like Antonio

What then is the true vision

of someone you know so well

after having drawn him for thirty-two years