Modigliani as Muse!

I produced these images today. The idea stems from the notion of space in relation to human relationships. The print depicts me staring directly out to the viewer, It is very uncommon for a person to glare at another person. People tend to find this ignorant, intimidating and uncomfortable. I found this concept fascinating. It seems Western people seem to shy away from certain contact that may breach the outer ego they display.  We shy away and are mistrusting of intimacy in many respects. The human seems to be in a constant performance, we are actors in a play. However, I have noticed that children do not do this. They seem naive to the notion of reputation and appearance; they simply do as they please. They are more open.

The red print is a monoprint. The image was transferred from a photograph with permanent marker. I edited the photograph to make the light and dark contrast more dramatic and the image more graphic. I applied opaque red ink using a roller and crafted the image using cotton swabs and a cloth soaked in white spirits.

This was done is a similar manner. However, I added medium to the ink to make it more translucent and ghostly.

I applied ink on this with an object similar to a knife to examine the effect of thick coats of ink when compressed and printed. The result reminded me immensely of working with a palette knife. I love using the materials in such a lose manner. It is very intuitive and reductive. I feels almost like the creation of my subconscious. It feels strangely confessional.

The cotton swabs I was using became stained from my using them each time I inked my plate in dissimilar colours. They had become stained from using a red hue and so created this organic brown to appear on this print. However, I really liked the result. It seems rather three-dimensional and the lines it creates are very descriptive. 

Also, I must mention why the eyes are darkened. I was studying a lot of portraits by Amedeo Modigliani and noticed how he tended to not include the contents of the eyes in his portraits. I found this highly unusual and rather disturbing. Max Beerbohm cites that "I do not need a book of quotations to know that the eyes are the windows to the soul." Yet Modigliani does not give us the pleasure of seeing these characters' eyes. Rather strange I say.