Impasto Impressions...

Wednesday evening was back-to-school night at our local elementary school. The PTA made a presentation. The principal introduced new teachers, and some teachers covered the curriculum as scores of parents balancing awkwardly on diminutive IKEA-esque chairs.

I found it difficult to concentrate on the scholastic scene. Instead, I kept dwelling on this particular portrait posted in the hallway. Nestled amidst other student (art-class) portraits...lining the hallways, I noticed the face. Scores of realist self-portrayals faded into the background, as this one articulation of self...seized my attention.
Did the young artist intentionally portray...how she sees herself? How she is seen by others? How she wants to be seen? Is she anticipating her upcoming encounters with pores, puberty and Benzoyl Peroxide? Was the flecked facade a purposeful flurry meant to conceal an art accident? The intention is hidden somewhere behind those colored stains.

I enjoy contemplating this portrait. Her rendition reminds me of a quote I like: "Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary." (Cecil Beaton)