Purpose Behind Piece

I was very interested in exploring internal versus external perceptions of personality in this piece. I think emotional expression became the means through which I began to grapple with this issue. Through intentional color choices and thick application of paint, I began to build of the emotional repertoire I could use to convey both internal and external realities. These expressive elements allowed me to better understand both the slightly abstracted way people view themselves. But the wholly representational volumes being created by those expressive elements also speak to how the outsider views the individual as just another person. The reason I was interested with this concept is because it can never truly be resolved. Either you are an insider, seeking to understand how the world views you, or you are an outsider, seeking to understand how that person views the world. It is impossible to be both simultaneously. Thus this is not a work of reality; it is not something that could ever exist. And yet it does. Does that make the viewer omnipotent? But how is it an accurate representation when the artist by definition cannot be both outsider and insider? These are questions I am still working through.