In February 2016, I presented "BLOOM: Portraits without faces" at an exhibition space on Machabeli Street. This archive documents a specific period of conceptual search, focusing on the mechanics of perception and the anatomy of the portrait.
There is a persistent myth of the "deep portrait"—the assumption that a painting can transmit an exact emotional state or capture the psychological truth of its subject. I view this as an illusion. Staring into these canvases is akin to looking into a mirror. The painting does not reflect an objective reality, nor does it guarantee that the emotion perceived by the viewer matches the one experienced during the physical process of creation. The feeling recognized in the work is not a historical fact; it is an objective impression formed entirely in the viewer's present moment.
The technical execution reinforces this disconnect. Working with acrylic, oil, and mixed media, I rendered the figures before deliberately disrupting them. The stark horizontal lines crossing the subjects' faces were applied as a final intervention. They are not merely graphic elements; they intentionally obscure the portrait, fracturing the image to leave a deliberate void. That void strips away the specific identity of the subject, leaving the space entirely to the viewer's imagination.
