Artist statement

The face is an excuse to play with colors and shapes. Its basic form distracts my conscious mind, while my brush makes marks on canvas or paper. I try to catch an essence, reveal what the Buddhists call “the face behind the face” or “the face before you were born.” A spirit that exists outside of consensus reality, outside of space and time.

I make my living assisting people with their awareness, helping them sort out their lives, inside and out. I study their dreams at night and their dreaming while awake. I stare at the faces of my clients, and paint away the layers in my mind. I look at my friends, at strangers in cafes, at people on the street. Most of us are covered, made up, our secret selves braced against the world. Some of us search for our underfaces with great intention and considerable investment. But some of us can’t hide.

I love the faces under the face. Faces that are ravaged and cross-eyed, ecstatic, blissful or blind.

I find beauty in what’s ugly, honest and malformed.

My “subjects”:
Some of the underfaces on these walls are self-portraits. Others are people I love or dislike. The images are taken from distorted photos and from nowhere I can name.

My wish:
That these paintings will inspire us (you and me) to discover our underfaces and the crazy-wisdom they might bring.

Jan Dworkin
October, 2005

 

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