Along the lines of the tidal theme, I’ve been thinking how there is an apparent tendency for the most charismatic, entertaining, people to have a ‘dark side.’ I have speculated that some people must experience a greater spectrum of emotions than others. Only those who feel unadulterated happiness can also pull themselves into the depths of despair. Is that valid? Or maybe we are all somewhere along this spectrum by the nature of our own personalities…maybe life events can open new parts of the spectrum to us. Maybe the highs do not mirror the lows.
I’m not sure how much control anyone really has over any of this. Depression is an incredibly difficult thing to comprehend, and so many people suffer from it, it’s such a wasted energy. I myself get bouts of anxiety, possibly conditioned, possibly hereditary (or both). I’m also aware of how much this inhibits me, but I can’t seem to do much about it, it’s incredibly frustrating. I am resolved that screens and false worlds have a lot to do with the apparent ‘modern’ epidemic of depression, however, I also think it is impossible to know what the real historic picture is: the stigma surrounding depression, and it’s many forms, has only recently started to erode.
This image is a bit of a play on Picasso’s portraits. I’ve always enjoyed these and his studies in Cubism in particular. What I specifically like is that he seems to blur the definition between the subject and their surroundings, sort of melting them into the space. He captures sometimes several perspectives to build up a more complete representation. This is very much just a silly doodle – I’ve tried to show the ‘two sides’ of the character as simply happy/sad.
meandertect 