This 16”×20” oils, acrylics on canvas painting by Stephen Stocklin features a haunting face rendered in muted beige-gray tones, emerging from a turbulent background of deep navy blues, charcoal blacks, and expressive white brushwork. The face has simplified, mask-like features—dark hollows for eyes and a crimson mark suggesting lips. Delicate white horizontal lines traverse the entire composition like strings or wires, while a vertical column of small colored rectangles—red, orange, gray, yellow, and olive—creates a geometric counterpoint along the right edge. The upper portion shows wild, gestural marks suggesting windswept hair or inner turmoil, contrasting with the serene stillness of the face itself.
The painting evokes the measured self we present to the world—a composed facade held together by invisible threads of control, while chaos swirls around and within us. The colored blocks suggest the components of identity we stack and organize, attempting to make sense of who we are, while the calm face reminds us that sometimes our greatest strength lies in maintaining composure even as everything else threatens to dissolve into turbulence.
This 16”×20” oils, acrylics on canvas painting by Stephen Stocklin features a haunting face rendered in muted beige-gray tones, emerging from a turbulent background of deep navy blues, charcoal blacks, and expressive white brushwork. The face has simplified, mask-like features—dark hollows for eyes and a crimson mark suggesting lips. Delicate white horizontal lines traverse the entire composition like strings or wires, while a vertical column of small colored rectangles—red, orange, gray, yellow, and olive—creates a geometric counterpoint along the right edge. The upper portion shows wild, gestural marks suggesting windswept hair or inner turmoil, contrasting with the serene stillness of the face itself.
The painting evokes the measured self we present to the world—a composed facade held together by invisible threads of control, while chaos swirls around and within us. The colored blocks suggest the components of identity we stack and organize, attempting to make sense of who we are, while the calm face reminds us that sometimes our greatest strength lies in maintaining composure even as everything else threatens to dissolve into turbulence.
