Work of the Week: Jean Cho

Posted on November 30, 2020

Jean Cho
Self Portrait: Failure
Acrylic paint on a 24 x 48 clear acrylic board

The failure depicted here is my mind’s failure to perceive myself accurately. When I look in the mirror, or my phone camera, or at myself in photographs, I can’t seem to recognize the face looking back at me. The unrealistic colors also are to represent this as well; the childish ambiance of the primary colors exudes a very elementary-school tone to show that it shouldn’t be this hard to see myself as who/what I am. I chose a clear surface instead of an actual mirror and painted over the sides to only reveal a portion of the actual clear acrylic board to represent my hopes that I could one day move past this obstruction and see myself clearly.