Portraits Series

Looking at my body of work over the decades, one notices an approach to the image akin to collage, where the symbolic dimension is sometimes obvious, sometimes undefined, and where the figure is often the central element. My drawings, for their part, question the notion of authentic and individual identity, confronted with a society dominated by the media, manipulated by artificial intelligence, and obsessed with maintaining a dominant presence on social networks. 

The objects, jewelry, and other adornments depicted in these portraits were imbued with symbolic meanings often linked to power, love, fidelity, and death. While those meanings may elude us today, the visual associations in my own portraits are likewise not merely incidental; rather, they carry a significance that invites the viewer to form their own interpretation. They give expression to the often-enigmatic image we project of ourselves — a superficial mask that creates a space between us and the source of our true selves, a source inhabited by our beliefs, contradictions, and fears.

After several decades of creating photomontages using, I am distancing myself from digital technologies to return to more traditional image-making processes; the medium of colored pencil on paper allows me to reconnect with this practice. The final result therefore uses no technical means to reproduce the original image, and I do not employ collage or mixed media.