"Plasticized Self-Portait"
20"x12"
Colored Pencil
This piece kind of just...evolved. I took a similar picture of myself in the car one day during lunch my senior year of high school. It was one of those days when I wore some crazy outfit to school and all the preppy kids looked at me funny. I loved getting those kinds of looks. Not because they looked at me funny, but because I wore what I felt like wearing, and didn't give a second thought to what anyone else would think. It is so liberating to do whatever the heck you want to do and honestly not even care what anyone else will think. I took that picture and photoshopped it to look like I was wrapped in plastic, kind of as an ironic twist. On a day when I was being 100% myself, to wrap myself in plastic as if I were a manufactured plastic toy, perfectly calculated to fit the widely accepted conformities of my high school. It isn't about being "unique" perse, but about doing what you want to do, because it's what you like, no matter what anyone says or thinks about your taste. It's your taste, not anyone else's. Realizing that set me free.