PURE HONESTY

2009, Oil on Linen, 100 x 100cm

On the surface it is merely a play on surface and space, toying with preconceived notions of image depth, inviting the viewer to question what is real and what is not. The sky, which assumes infinite depth, transforms to be a flat surface because of the hole. And by continuing the image around onto the sides of the canvas, the painting itself is transformed into a three dimensional form, thereby inciting in the viewer an automatic assumption of internal volume.

However, the meaning is gleaned not from the visual trickery. It is the shape of the hole, and the implicit actions of the zipper mechanism itself, that is all-important. For the zipper mechanism implies knowledge with the viewer that at a certain point a circular hole will start to re-close itself. The action thus becomes eternal, forever exposing and then closing the wound. And so the question becomes, what is Honesty? At what point do the truth and the illusion exchange? Or are they both in a constant state of flux?