SELF-PORTRAIT LIGHTNING

WORK

Soho20 Gallery gave us a forum. We created a revolution in the art world that has broken open the visual arts. None of the personal iconography that has driven most art since the 1970s would have been possible without the Feminist Art Movement. I paint self-portraits because I am willing to pose as long as the painting takes to reveal itself. It takes me time to learn what the
painting is trying to tell me. I struggle to understand what it means to be human. Especially those aspects of being human that can't be replicated by technology. Finishing a painting doesn't require my erasing the evidence of that struggle. In fact, the struggle is the
meaning. I don't try to clean it up. One thing is certain. This is not a time when I can afford to be
complacent. In order to keep learning, I need to stay aware. As an artist, my obligation is to hold a mirror up to society and reveal what I see. I paint my own face as a specimen of the human race. I strive to see how I am evolving, and who I could be if I were as brave as I
can imagine. These times are frightening. Lightning is a powerful and frightening
force over which I have no control. For years, I've been studying ravens. Our fellow species are
increasingly playing a role in my paintings. They help me understand that there isn't just one way of being intelligent. Finishing a work of art is as much a moral decision as a technical
one. I ask myself, "Will I be able to live with these decisions for the rest of my life?" I'm resolving issues of meaning, not just compositional problems.
© Sharon Wybrants