6 foot by 4 foot – paint, coloured pencil, charcoal, wood and collage on a wooden board.

These Thoughts Aren’t Real, They’re Just Secretions In The Skull.

This self-portrait is the culmination of all the ideas developed during the studio work in 2011 and 2012. Layering multiple images, text, and perspectives, both through manipulation of the 2D and 3D planes, over a stylised self-portrait, explores how external influences and stimuli affect the internal representation and understanding of self.

Repetition of key signifiers that have become apparent in my work over the previous two years, e.g., The Hammerhead Shark, 3D text, Bacronyms, plays against surreal poems that anchor the shifting ideas to the variable elements, like thought bubbles in a comic book.

Symbolic references that are not within the audience’s common knowledge form the background of the portrait, hinting at a person’s unknown past, which, in essence, becomes the foundation for all their perceptions. Through reversing these symbolic representations and playing with morphemes in Burroughs-like fashion, there is an attempt to rid the symbolism of its meaning, allowing space to imagine an unfettered future.