Initially produced during a residency at Les Subsistances in Lyon, France this project explores the relationship between what one wears and one’s identity through the production of self portraits. The articles of clothing normally hang in my closet unused or were worn for brief moments of self scrutiny behind closed doors. The act of producing these paintings – privately standing in front of a mirror – reflects my own relationship with these garments emphasizing the awkward tension associated with “dressing up” and the anxious act of looking, being looked at and the desire to look good – voyeurism, narcissism and self-consciousness. The titles suggest the fantasies I would like to project/present while wearing these “costumes”.

This work reflects an interest in the relationships of production and consumption: being the active producer (the painter) and the product (the portrait), the consumer (of fashion… status…) and the consumed (the object). Also considered, is how self is constructed and defined by appearance and the limitations of that presentation. The repetition of portraits is meant to emphasize the complexity (and possible loss) of an identity constructed on the desire to please another.