The ‘Cut’ series is based on film stills, taking a cut to the cheek as a cinematic cliché. The paintings parody the visual shorthand used to portray an injury within the confines of the stare of the lens. The selected image is carefully cropped and recomposed to focus on the protagonist’s face. The circumstances surrounding each injury may vary, a cut from an accident or perhaps from a violent act – but in reality this is only an illusion created with make-up, merely a painted mark in itself.
These ‘cuts’ are also an unexpected imperfection to the painted surface – simply rendered, both referencing the brush stoke and highlighting the violence implicit in the mark.
See the Crocodile Tears series.