I started this painting after viewing the Abstract Expressionist show at MOMA in NYC in 2011. I had absorbed so much energy and rich turbulence from that show. Although the background of this painting is very similar to the original one I started at that time, I completely painted over the initial face I had painted on the canvas. I had started the painting in NYC and when I carried it to my studio in Wellfleet, I wanted to paint a much stronger face than that which was already depicted. I set up a skull that I have in my studio and observed how the ambient light seemed to give it life. I painted this intensely for several days applying heavy impasto paint to the surface, changing colors, vying for depth. The eye that emerges from within the skull’s right eye socket was neither planned nor painted. I believe it is from the first face I had painted and then covered. Somehow, with wiping away paint as well as applying it, this eye was revealed; it is one of those accidents of unveiling.This painting is part of my Mummies & Ancients series and is a continuation of my discovery of the intrigue of our remains.
