It's pretty interesting where an artistic theme can take you. You start in one place and you end up somewhere completely unexpected.
The theme I have used over the years has incorporated all manner of concealment, duplicity and protest. Rendering ambiguity upon or, avoiding the light of clarity to be shone upon matters. Matters which must be said and must be exposed.
It is inextricably woven into my art and my energy. It is an underlying theme along which I believe is the bridge between my personal life which I have translated and transformed through a number of different art mediums, namely installations, video art, performance art and paintings. I attempt to communicate my own message and reach out to a more universal message.
Behind the mask, one is able to have a level of privacy or intimacy without exposing oneself excessively, maintain a level of prescribed dignity & being comfortable with it. The mask is not only a screen for perverse dignity or pre-agreed dignity, but also a safety device. The mask colouring our own judgmental perceptions of dignitity, leaving us to reap the consequences of our actions. (I would use the woman in red with guitar pictures here)
I was as shocked as anyone, when I realized it had much more personal connotations. Because just as some masks like masquerade masks can embellish, other types can also save and protect from the toxicity of the atmosphere. But one common theme persists. It creates a barrier between oneself and the exterior whether it is metaphorical or carnal. The mask becomes or when wearing the mask, we become the ridiculous and pathetic image, always fishing for acceptance although it may be futile or ephemeral. The thin layer of the mask, the presented image of joie-de-vivre can be easily, yet irreparably blown away. For our hope of acceptance often thinly veils our desperation.
And through all the pretence, masquerade and inner crisis, I cant help but dwell in the land of silly....
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
