For a painter, sitting in isolation, the portrait becomes a way to reflect on the process of learning the craft. Painting from observation, allows the stillness to be captured long enough to recognize the familiarity of the mark.
How well do we want to be seen? How literal does the framework need to be?
Will we be seen for ourselves?
What is this narcissistic need?
Token, the most recent creation at Dis-plant, used the same techniques of traditional materials like oil and acrylic, to experiment with generally accessible, discarded materials with short shelf-lives, make-up. Specifically, iridescent lotion, eye shadows and pencils, nail polish and sample foundations; all selected by others. The portrait has become a reminder of the ways in which covering up has been a way for me to reach toxic levels of generational assimilation.
For me more than you, these pieces are a reflection of a process of healing. The structures we are born into are often out of our control. What we do with the choices is what makes us who we are. Life is a reflection of what we put into it. Where there was unkindness, I learned the acts that brought me joy. But the circular process forced me to first unlearn the disharmony. The seemingly benign flowers, seduced by light, gave me a way to transmute the daily battering of dissonant spaces. Anger, discontent, disease fueling change and more importantly release.
Thank you for listening to me.
