WHEN LAST WE WERE YOUNG
30 X 24
TESSERA
$1400

This piece is a study of clothing and the power of fashion to remove the person from the personal image. We all are wont to jump to conclusions about those we meet based primarily on what they wear … at least when we first meet them. In this case, we know that this is a nuts-and-berries type, or maybe a hippie-type, or … who knows? … maybe a foreigner.

But do we really know? How can we? If you look, the face is a manikin, not a person. But do we even notice? The clothes are the story. Exuberant, overlapping pattern and print are where the power lies while the face becomes background, still and unanimated. Even the eyes are obscured by the new hipster sunglasses. 

The work is another of my Tessera pieces, and has elements from two pieces. One, the original painting, forms the background and the other all the parts that dress the fashionista. However, it took me some time to realize that the face needed to become a ghost-like image, for it to have any meaning at all in the work. So, I painted a separate mask to cover the original portrait, and the work came together at last. Apparently, there can be only one star, and here it is the stuff from a trunk full of hipster memories.