francesco polazzi - Il sè e l’ego

Francesco Polazzi – who studied both Philosophy in Bologna and Fine Arts in Birmingham, blending pop, street art, and postmodern abstraction into a unique pictorial language – would probably have conceived of such an image as a powerful metaphor for the inner journey.
In this oil on canvas, the owl, perched atop a coiled snake, captures our gaze. The snake, depicted as the eternal serpent of cyclical transformation and the rhythm of life, coils beneath the owl in a spiral suggesting evolution, shadow dance, and rebirth. The owl itself embodies wisdom, a delicate commander and at the same time sovereign of life's unfolding.
An energetic brushstroke infuses movement into stillness: bold reds and deep greens twist and intertwine like living energy, while touches of oil pastel add a vibrant luminosity — a sign of motion even in rest. At times, the forms almost dissolve into abstraction; the lines become feathers, scales, patterns, rhythm. A dynamic ballet of painting and symbol.
Philosophically, the canvas stages a dialogue: the owl respects the serpent — just as the Self must recognize the primordial will of the ego — but now it is ready to guide with wisdom. It is a visual allegory: wisdom anchors the transformation, without suffocating it. The owl is free to travel into shadowy nooks, not to dominate them, but to illuminate them.
Visually, the composition pulses between symbolic quiet and dynamic rhythm — the serpent's bend still holding the gaze, while that of the owl lifts it towards a brightness suggested by delicate golden halos. There is an intuitive balance: containment and freedom, gravity and elevation, ego and Self.
Basically, this is a painting where wisdom and love, lightness and understanding, converge. The owl — a serene commander — transcends the viewer's eye, inviting us into a transformative narrative: to become wise, loving, and luminous, dancing with our shadows in full awareness.