Limits

Charcoal, conte crayon, and oil on masonite

52" x 47"

2006

$550

In math, a function is said to have a limit as it approaches infinity if it yields the same value regardless of the way the input approaches infinity. The boxes in this piece represent that notion. They represent views from different perspectives and their sides converge in unexpected ways, yet they all show the same blue on the far side.

My initial sketch for this piece consisted solely of boxes; there was no portrait involved. Upon painting it, however, I realized that the boxes alone didn’t make for a very interesting piece. I added the portrait in a moment of frustration, thinking that I would just forego the box idea completely and turn the whole piece into a sour looking self portrait. When I returned to the studio, I decided to merge the two images, and I eventually ended up with a portrait painted within the boxes.

I feel that the portrait represents a limit in a human sense - It came about as a response to having reached a limit, and it’s confined within certain boundaries. This piece ended up being a representation of a mathematical limit with a representation of a human limit superimposed on top of it.