Broken Painting

I was born in Cochin, India but moved to Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa when I was 3 months old and grew up there. I have always sketched and painted through out my life. I am a self taught artist, though I do like attending short courses that help in improving my technique. Currently I like using oil paints and right now I'm fascinated by the idea that all of us are a mixture of different people or personalities, and that we unconsciously or consciously alter who we are depending on the person or situation we are dealing with. Most of my paintings are of faces that reflect the many personas we adopt. The face is like a mirror to our souls, conveying our deepest desires, fears and hopes. Sometimes we are able program our expressions and feelings to control how much we convey to the world like a well painted picture with the correct angles and symmetry of color. But occasionally it is impossible command our emotions and feelings into a semblance of disciplined expressions. I like using open and closed eyes, exaggerated lips, and different colors to convey these different mini persons in us. I also like toying with the idea that we are all not a hundred percent man or woman in the traditional classification of the genders. Parts of us will always be feminine, masculine or childish depending on how we want to be. The possibilities are fascinating. A couple of paintings I have tried to construct in a way that they can be hung in any orientation. This is continuation of the idea, that we have many facets to ourselves. Hence the change in orientation of presentation gives importance to that aspect of our inner self that is important at that point in time. I like to think that art is very subjective and gives meaning, expression and purpose not only to the artist who created it but also to the viewer or audience. By allowing the audience to choose the orientation (how the painting is hung) or combinations of canvases to arrange or rearrange as per their preferences, they too become a part of the artistic expressive process.