Emily's Apathetic Dissolution

Chuck Close inspired four panel acrylic painting held together by copper wire. It took me 8 months (although no constant) to finish this 3ft x 4ft tedious monster but it was worth it.

"Emily's Apathetic Dissolution” tackles the notion of the slow dissolving of one’s authenticity, which in turn causes a complete loss of self. Another way to describe authenticity is integrity, which is the condition of being unimpaired, unified, sound and having internal consistency. Integrity comes from the word integrate and the opposite of integrate is disintegrate. This can slowly happen over a lifetime with no big event to wake one up from one’s stupor. In the painting, Emily sees her dilemma but is too indolent to take action. Her face expresses an apathetic attitude with a gaping mouth of shock and passive terror. Her face is also segmenting and changing from its true color. This is further emphasized by the piece being segmented into four separate canvas panels held together by wire. If the viewer hasn’t gotten the point yet, the upper right hand panel has actually started to lose its color entirely. All of this segmenting and dissolving represents her authenticity and personal self. Emily is a beautiful girl who has a lot going for her in life but something very destructive is happening under the surface.



I promise that I'll have a better photo of it soon!