Self portrait

1992
oil on canvas, 71 x 71 cm
(Currently in Madrid, Spain)


Painted over a previous painting a mask-like face looks out with one observant eye. The figure is surrounded by abstract colourful shapes and dots which tempt the viewer to search for relationships. The black form behind, the various rectangles framing the figure, the bright yellow hugging the face. Everything left in an unfinished state.

I remember discussing this painting in a seminar and the argument was around whether the work was finished or whether I should continue defining more clearly the portrait. I defended my position that the work was finished. I see the figure as both observant and obstinate, the face is less a mask than a revelation of an interior character, and this person is at ease inhabiting a space of contradictions.