Introspection belongs to a series of paintings made between 1998 and 2000, in which I tried to apply my abstract style to a larger surface size. At the time I was still developing my style and my only objective was to create paintings of acceptable painterly quality. This meant that I didn't pay any attention to the painting's content and together with the bright coloration it made me worry about my style's artistic depth: too colorful, too cheery.
I was therefore surprised to receive a reproduction request for the cover of a book about depression. On the other hand, when people had previously interpreted
Introspection as a woman that seems sad or depressed, it didn't really sink in because I didn't look at my art in such terms.
Special thanks to Ms Erin Cosyn
Preparing for the reproduction of
Introspection has made me rethink the nature of artistic depth and it's relation with content. I now regard the 1998-2000 series as my
blue period, not in color but in acquiescence. What is deep and real about a painting is unrelated to the choice of subject and color and can't be induced, it either happens or it doesn't, whether the artist likes it or not.
