Lovely Daze is a journal of artists’ writings and artworks published twice a year in limited editions. The seventh issue: Good Intentions Lead to Hell? is a double issue: one side edited by the publisher and the reverse side by guest editor Alessandra Sandrolini reflecting on a shared topic.

‘Good intentions lead to Hell’ may suggest that the best intentions are worthless unless they are followed by concrete actions, but also that even good acts can lead to evil results, or perhaps that people sometimes justify their bad actions with supposed good ends. Whatever its correct interpretation may be, the title of Lovely Daze Issue 7 links the potential of an action directly to its effect, human desires and wills with the shadow of the hereafter punishment. Translated in the context of this curatorial journal, this title seems to address this sort of questions: What is the role of Utopia in art? Can an artwork provoke an effective change in society? How far can an artist go to challenge his audience? Does a work of art mirror the exterior reality or the interior world of the artist? Should it transform us, or just to inspire us, increasing the beauty of our tedious world?

The artists contributing to this issue of Lovely Daze, responded to the paradoxes expressed by this title from a variety of intellectual positions and with different aesthetic approaches. Instead of composing a monolithic answer, their works, by affinity or by contrast, raise a number of other questions like: What does it mean to have a gift? Do we also have a responsibility as spectators? Is working necessary for our spiritual realization? Aren’t good intentions enough to take us to Heaven? And is it necessary to move Heaven and Earth for a work of art?