Self Portrait in Sharp Relief

Inspired by Courbet's painting 'The Desperate man' and the haunting paintings of Michael Borremans, the artist captures an intense moment of intrspection within the frame of the pallet knife he uses everyday.

Painstakingly painted from life, the eye is led into the focal point of the painting via the arm, which unconventionally uses a first person perspective, allowing the viewer to figuritively step into his shoes.
The glint in the reflection of the wild eye pleading back at us, acts as the focal point for this composition. The viewer's gaze is drawn in, spiraling inwards via the arm, into the highlights of the held pallet knife, and finally resting on the sliver of the sliver of the artist's reflection.

The background is painted in brilliant white, further establishing the contrast of the human captured within the piece in natural hues. These broad, thick impastos act almost as a wall, not only obsfucating the surroundings of who this may be, but lending the ominous sense of walls closing in. One is left with the sense of a man at a fork in the road.