Tongue Portrait #2, Just Another Word, Nothing Left to Lose, 2023
Acrylic and paper on board, 24.5 x 48 inches

Tongue Portraits are a further exploration of the concept of trust. Lauren Berlant, in her 2022 book The Inconvenience of Other People, says that “‘Free’ is not a dominant quality of any relationality.” This statement comes out of their research pertaining to social theory, our interdependence, and the interactions that bring us into the same space and time. This piece borrows lyrics from the song Me and Bobby McGee written by Kris Kristofferson in 1969, which describes freedom as “nothing left to lose”, providing a comparable yet nihilistic inversion to those salutary philosophies.

Commission your own Tongue Portrait in one of three styles. Paintings are based on personal information collected through an artistic research survey — contact me for more information. 

Tongue Portrait #3, The Purpose of a Cell, 2023
Acrylic and paper on board, 24.5 x 48 inches

Ideas inspired by Siddhartha Mukherjee’s book, Song of a Cell, 2022: a historical and personal account of the study of cellular structures and their “apparently inexhaustibly potential to be found in connective relationships.” That potential having both creative and destructive qualities.