The Nature of Identity

Shadow

2011

oil

20x16

This was done this past summer with Randy LeSage at the Worcester Art Museum. The class was called the Nature of Identity, and the assignment was (loosely) a self portrait.

I didn't want to get bogged down by features and likeness; I wanted to address a deeper identity than appearance. I decided that the way I paint is the best expression of my identity.

So as not to be distracted by facial details, I took a photo of my shadow, and worked from that (see above).

The shadow seemed like a perfect vehicle for the slippery topic of identity: always shifting, without substance, distorting, but also unapologetically honest.

We dance back and forth between revealing and hiding, imitating and projecting, and then are prone to despair when we feel no one truly knows us.