Process Behind "Simply Not There"
When creating this artwork, I deliberately chose to paint on both sides of the plexiglass to emphasize the feeling of detachment. Each body part feels individual and not fully connected to any whole.
The mask is clear, representing the facade or persona that can blend into any environment. The removal of the mask reveals a cold and blank face underneath. Although the mask is being removed, the face is still distant and empty. The extended usage of a confident persona can make one lose sight of who they once were.
Inspiration
Inspired by Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho, wherein protagonist Patrick Bateman struggles with his sense of identity in relation to those around him.
Quotes From the Novel
“I had all the characteristics of a human being—flesh, blood, skin, hair—but my depersonalization was so intense, had gone so deep, that my normal ability to feel compassion had been eradicated, the victim of a slow, purposeful erasure. I was simply imitating reality, a rough resemblance of a human being, with only a dim corner of my mind functioning”
“…there is an idea of a Patrick Bateman, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory [...]: I simply am not there. It is hard for me to make sense on any given level. Myself is fabricated, an aberration. I am a noncontingent human being. My personality is sketchy and unformed, my heartlessness goes deep and is persistent. My conscience, my pity, my hopes disappeared a long time ago […] if they ever did exist.”