Gino De Dominicis refuses to allow his work to be photographed or otherwise mediated, preferring that the viewer experience it in person. Though his position could be interpreted as an assault on the public, accustomed to glossy art books and catalogues, it is in fact a passionate defense of the inherent physicality of the art object. Thus, in order to view his work one must embark on a kind of religious pilgrimage.

In the mid ’80s his conceptual and arte povera–related work provoked academic discussions about the tradition of painting and the nature of perception, discussions which his more