Oil and charcoal on canvas
2023

Following the completion of ‘Responding to images of the Body’ at AAL, I had a few ideas in mind for some projects I wanted to paint, one of which was a self portrait of myself crashed out on the sofa, which was how I came to Break.

Break is a self portrait depicting me, supine on the sofa wearing my tired and ripped painting clothes. I’m posed as if I’ve simply fallen backward out of tiredness directly onto my spot on the sofa. The viewpoint is of that of someone standing above me, looking down.

This piece is painted with a more realistic palette, but with the quick and thin application of paint it has adopted a dream-like quality to it. While the sofa and myself are cleanly in view, my facial features and diminished and uncertain, and further as you continue to the top of the frame the background has reduced further into vague hints at a surrounding. To my side is a red shape, draped over the back of the sofa, that stands out in sharp contrast against the muted tones of the rest of the scene.