Artist's statement My Painting is a response to the original painting “The eye” in the Old Jail Art Center’s collection. When I first saw the painting something just felt off about it. As I looked at it closer I realized it was the shape of the eye and how it was more like the shape you would draw as a young kid rather than someone who knows the structure of an eye. When I was creating mine I made sure the shapes felt real but still felt off. When looking at my price I understood that it might be hard for people to understand what is going on, there is a lot happening. When asking people what their first questions about it were, one reply was “where was the other thumb?” When you look at a 3d object that is round, you don't just put your hand flat. It wraps around. That is where the other thumb would have gone. This painting means a lot to me as it is supposed to represent the feeling of masking and what it's negative effects are. Masking is a coping mechanism where you change how you act to fit in with society. When doing this for too long you start to lose who you are and can lead to burnout, depression, and exhaustion. As a person who has struggled with this for years before I even found out what this was, I felt like it was something important to bring awareness to. This is one of my favorite mental problems to talk about and that's another main reason why I cared so much to make it like this.
