CinqueTerre12 The Men and Stones, 2002 by Argentinean artist Silvio Benedicto Benedetto "This is how I chose to narrate them -- without heroism or vaunting, without 'affability' or idealism. I painted men of times gone by who saved their land by raising walls, stone upon stone. These men decided to undertake this opus independently, that is without subjection, and this is why upon seeing their portrayal someone commented, 'there's toil but also serenity on their faces'. Hard but serene faces. Faces bereft of pleasantries and ambiguities. Faces like the landscape with wrinkles like furrows that do not welcome impostors, jesters or the high and mighty, but seeds of freedom. I painted men that prop up the land: one passes stones between the thorns, another supports the wall between strawberry trees and honeysuckles, another places stones among salamanders and yet another hits the stones and frightens the jays."