Actors

I painted these in Paris around the beginning of the new millennium. I was thinking about questions of change and identity. I imagined actors applying their makeup in front of a mirror. The paintings are the view from behind the mirror looking out at the actors. As references I used some photos from a book about domestic medical practice which was first published in 1913. 


I used the “grisaille” technique by which each image was painted entirely in shades of gray and then translucent oil colours were laid over this monotone base. I was trying to heighten the sense of narrative presence and naturalism to the people depicted.