THE STUDIO (2022)

This piece is an unaltered photograph from just outside the doorway looking into my art studio space within my apartment. A painted self-portrait is framed in the center of the composition by an illusion of a two-dimensional pattern of rhombi made up of painter’s tape placed on the walls, ceiling, floor, door, trim, and various objects in the room. The piece in totality is a metaphor for positive disintegration. The self-portrait is a work-in-progress, just as I am on the path to crafting my personality ideal; it depicts a dark night of the soul that took place two years ago, one that permanently altered the way I look at myself, my life, and how I choose to interact with the world. The choice of tape for the medium and the trial-and-error process of placing, checking, removing, checking, and so on of each piece of tape embodies the long, independent process of personal growth that I have been undertaking throughout my life. Each section of tape placed on each different object represents a different facet of my being.

From any other angle, such as in the middle of the room, the mess of colors and strips of tape stand alone, separate, and do not seem to have a purpose other than disrupting the environment. Take the chair, for instance: if removed from the room and brought to a different art studio, it would be easy to question, judge, or even ridicule the state that it is in, covered in various smatterings of tape. It’s better to leave it in the sanctuary of my private studio. In a similar way, I have learned that it is often better to mask or keep internally hidden various aspects of overexcitabilities present in my psyche.

The pattern radiating outwards is representative of how, when looking from a particular perspective at chaos, unusual traits, or above all, symptoms and crises present with periods of disintegration, one may discover order, beauty, and revelation in the composition of fragments. Each element has its proper place, and its existence makes sense in the context of the grand design. Understanding is achieved. A newfound appreciation for each individual part of the whole is discovered in the perceiver, and they cannot be seen the same way again.