«Three souls»

In the Republic, Plato divides the human soul into three parts: reason, spirit and appetite. They do not agree with each other, and a person is whatever comes out of the argument. I took that old idea as the starting point for this pop art portrait of a woman.

A woman in profile faces left against a black background. Her hair is thick orange-red paint, built up so you can feel it, and it drips down past her ear and neck. A teal and gold jewelled flower sits in the hair, a heavy blue-grey earring hangs below it, and small pink flowers are drawn on her cheek. The word love is written in red on her forehead. Slices of her face and neck slide sideways, and black bars cross her eye and brow. A pink lotus, a blue flower and a small bird climb up from her collar, and her shoulder is wrapped in black and white hearts and swirls. It is oil and acrylic on canvas, 120x90 cm, 2022, mixed media wall art you can almost read with your fingers.

For me the three souls are the calm face, the slice that glitches across it, and the flowers growing out of her neck. She is not one person at one moment.

Artists have long loved a profile against a flat ground, and I wanted to push it into contemporary pop art. Klimt covered Adele Bloch-Bauer in pattern in his 1907 portrait, so that the woman and the ornament nearly melt together. Modigliani gave his women long necks in the 1910s. I borrowed that neck, and let the pattern and the flowers fight for it. Hung as pop art for living room walls, this pop art portrait of a woman watches the room without a word.

Most of my original paintings are already in private collections, but I paint originals to order in any size. To ask about this one, message me on Instagram or by email. A hand-finished lithograph of this work also exists, and you can order it through Instagram or email.