Less Self.

In a series of small gouache paintings titled Self 1 through 4, 2014, I focus on four external structures, the ear, mouth, eye, and neck, all of which are divorced from the face. The paintings together create a type of jigsaw of features that amalgamate into a disfigured self-portrait. The jaundiced color of the ear, muddy green tint of the neck, blue-veins of the eye, and unsettling configuration of the mouth transform each into something grotesquely beautiful. Both anomalous and familiar, the bizarre colors imposed onto ordinary forms creates a dichotomy that resonates with the dissonance between the outward appearance and the inner self.