Demigods, Totems, Personalities Print

This is one of a series of ink drawings of layered faces. One drawing from this series became a poster commemorating the 50th anniversary of Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, titled Twelfth Night. Faces are full of meaning/meanings but those meanings exist independently in the eye of the beholder and in the mind of the subject. In any case, perceptions, just like meanings, are layered and shifting. An arched eyebrow is contradicted by a curled lip. Faces are always off-center, but that asymmetry is invisible until you look at it in the mirror. And the human face's familiarity erases much of its meaning. What we are familiar with becomes invisible. What is invisible we try to explain through myths and fictions. What does it look like? What does it mean? Does an arrangement of floating faces represent our confused personality or is it thought translated into molecules, the chemistry of a cloud? Trying to make sense of nonsense is either taxing or insulting or useful exercise. Puzzles and mysteries have a longer shelf life than plain statements which expire the moment they are seen. Make of this what you will.