Artwork statement... Like most of my artwork, the painting is brimming with narrative and artistic experimentation. The narrative is attraction and expulsion (expanded upon in the experiments statements below)— a youthful, emaciated, stoic being, seemingly pulling you into his world with openness, alluring beauty, and the pathos generated by a vague melancholy, yet all that you are witnessing is being pushed at you- even the perspectives are skewed so that the elements within are spilling towards you.
The dominant experimentation in this piece is the creation of 'passages' (areas of the composition arranged so that the elements cause your eye to move along the intended path). The most obvious passage is with the horizontal amber bar lights flowing from the right to the left, with a jump and curve on the oval upper plane of the bar overhang... like an amber check mark.
Next, notice the fabric highlights, framing the complete outline of his intensely black jacket [Jung's void looking into you!]. I intended the highlights to appear like beast claws pulling the figure into the environment— a juxtaposing element to the fact that the entire composition is intended to make you feel as if the figure is trying to pull you into him or his world. This is all juxtaposed again with the third intended passage, from the head down to the first hooked button of the shirt... 'every mother's son being birthed into the world'.