Gino de Dominicis gained notoriety in Italy as a mysterious and ‘cult’ artist in the Seventies when he modified his largely conceptual works – video, installations and statements - into sophisticated linguistic studies and literal representations of witticisms. On the whole, some enduring concerns are recognisable in his work particularly from the beginning of the Eighties when he started to paint. One of his predominant themes was the representation of silence. In the apparition of his impenetrable faces on the canvas one can recognise the enigma, the mystery, the meditation and the contemplation associated with the concept of silence. The very thin trait, almost invisible, the almost exclusive use of light blue and gold, traditional and alchemic colours, the constant and always similar deformation of the faces, all constitute his very personal style and the visible side of that philosophic ‘silence’.