Self-Portrait as Samurai
oil
24.1 x 16.5 cm (9.5" x 6.5")

This is another experimental self-portrait. I wanted to see what effect that the distortion and dislocation of the image would have on a portrait.

Distortion is often very successfully used by children, naive artists, or very sophisticated artists such as Picasso, to draw attention to certain aspects of a drawing, painting, or sculpture. In this portrait, however, where the distortion isn't being used for any particular purpose, it only serves to irritate and distract (or, at least, to irritate and distract me).

It would seem that if you're intent on using distortion, it's best to be using it with some purpose in mind.