Olēka (2021)
Acrylic on Recycled Wood Panel
15"x 20 1/4"
Olēka is the awareness of how few days are memorable. This self-portrait is a representation of the 2020 experience now carried over to 2021. This new normal continues to keep us in an isolated and uneventful existence with major events engrained into collective memory in between.
With a kitsch and mass-produced aesthetic, this piece depicts my monotonous daily reality the way a copier machine replicates an image, losing its quality with each passing copy.
Contrasting classical portraiture’s unobstructed view of the subject's face, this self-portrait depicts a predominantly masked face, leaving only the eyes gazing up with a shimmering hope for a better future and hopeful return to a time before quarantine and PPE.