In “Insight,” a series of mixed-media-on-canvas paintings, I cover portraits of individuals – friends, colleagues, artists, strangers - that I have taken over a period of two years, with layers of acrylic paint and ink. I present to the viewer a barely visible image of an upside-down face gazing intently from under multiple veils of paint and ink.

 

I chose to start the process with a large portrait printed upside down on the stretched canvas as a base.
I then begin to cover it with layer after layer of acrylic paint and ink. Eschewing the use of brushes and other painting tools for a limited palette of freely owing colour that I allow ending its way, under my direction, onto and around the canvas. Using a limited number of colours preserves the simplicity of the work and the concept.

The concept of this exhibition was borne of a single idea: changing a situation or its outcome by changing the perspective from which it is viewed. Thus, the upside-down faces looking at the viewer from under the paint allow for an examination from a fresh new perspective which can lead to new, creative solutions to resistant problems, or the discovery of an exciting new aspect to something that had grown stale with time. I aim to engage the viewer on an intimate personal level, provoking him to a deeper self-examination in an attempt to rejuvenate, renew and simplify all in a bid to achieve a new level of contentment.

 

Jehan Saleh

2016