The main focal point of this piece is a white face in the center of a canvas, surrounded by color. Due to its abstraction, the face does not represent a single person, race, or gender. It is deformed to the point that the only “facial features” are suggestions of a nose, mouth, and eyes. This work was inspired by two things; African Mask / Totem Poles by contemporary artist and family friend Richard Giglio, and the quote, “The face is a picture of the mind with the eyes as its interpreter” by Marcus Tullius Cicero. Cicero was a Roman statesman and lawyer who is remembered for mainly his writings on philosophy. In Face #2 There is no emotion in any of the features besides the eyes, constructed by two strong palette knife strokes. Surrounding the face are streaks of different reds and blues: the different colors represent emotion.
In contrast to this cacophony of color, the face remains pale, except for the eyes. This artistic intent “loops back” to the previous quote by Cicero. No matter how hard one tries to hide their feelings, their eyes will tell the truth. Despite the emotionless neutrality of all other features within the piece, the eyes are strong, displaying an immense amount of emotion. Sometimes the faintest expressions of emotion are the strongest. For example, the actor Bryan Cranston said, “If a character cries easily, the audience doesn’t have to… but if a character tries not to cry, that’s when the audience will.” I believe this idea can be applied to the piece Face #2 and many people in my life, including myself. A hint of emotion can make a larger impact than an outward open expression of emotion. Open expressions of emotion are still very powerful, but they show all the subject’s cards, leaving nothing to the viewer’s imagination. A hint, like in the eyes of Face #2, allows the audience to ponder what is not being shown, and in the unknown, the audience will have space to build their interpretations. To conclude, what the subject in Face #2 is thinking is open to conjecture, and every individual will be able to pull separate emotions from it.