Soulfies

I took David Choe’s advice to “stop taking selfies and start painting soulfies.” This has become an on-going practice over the past year. I typically paint either pure feelings, letting whatever colors and expressions come out naturally, without judgement. Or sit in front of a mirror, look at one specific feature of my face, and accentuate that part. I wasn’t expecting such a weird collection of faces to emerge when I started. I’ve come to appreciate that the soulfies capture authentic self-expression in that particular moment and yet they are not accurate portraits of myself. By the time the painting is done, the mood is gone, as is the resemblance. Over time, I’ve started adding bodies. This has turned into an interesting exploration of complex body image issues. And created a sort of exquisite corpse composition, with interchangeable faces and bodies.