Recycled Rubber Thoughts
Acrylic on Canvas
48 x 32
in
This series of original works begun in 2008 is called Faces In A Crowd. These acrylic paintings combine and extend the elements of my previous works, which build non-representational portraits utilizing exaggerated features and bold blocks of color, rather than realism, to express emotion. Another important element is the interest in planar, multiple viewpoints and the relationship between form and space. Man, since prehistory, as a matter of survival has had to be able to discern friend or foe when coming face to face with another human. In fact humans are predisposed to facial recognition. If you have imagined seeing a facial pattern in clouds, wood-grains, rocks, leaves or etc. it is because it is in our genetic makeup. Even now we process about 90% of how we feel about a person within the first few moments of meeting. Some people refer to this as a feeling, vibe or aura but it is simply what we pickup from a subconscious language of recognizing signals in the face of our potential friend or opponent. When facial features are exaggerated, or distorted it throws us off kilter, we look for symmetry but when we can’t find it draws the focus of our attention even more. Primitive cultures have been able to distill this trait down in a naïve way. Their ritual carvings and masks represent these ideas in an effort to either repel or attract supernatural aspects of their spirits and deities. In the process of stylizing and exaggerating the features of the human face in their artwork the emotional impact of the mask is heighten or amped up so to speak. Further inspiration is derived from the larger-than-life spectacles seen in the Mardi Gras floats of the city’s carnival season, which is another modern interpretation of these primitive tendencies. The fantastic characters that inhabit my imagination as a result of my immersion in New Orleans culture are given expression. The paintings that make up the Face in a Crowd series evoke the adventurous energy and spirit of discovery that combinations of these concepts have engendered in me.
$4,800
