The Search For Self

I wanted to explore the sense of loneliness we all felt during the pandemic with this piece. Artists often use themselves as models because (as the joke goes) we are cheap, don't ask for breaks, keep the same pose and seem to be always available. And we work for food. But choosing to paint yourself is one thing. Being forced to because you literally can't be around anyone else is very different. Ironically, I chose a model for this message. I couldn't get the setup to work with mirrors the way I wanted it to and it also occured to me that the message would be more universal if I expanded it to include other artists who felt the same way I did. So I went to a buddy of mine, Aaron Sidorenko, a fantastic painter (and even more social guy than me) so I could stage the idea more fully.