Thomas Dittmeier

Self Portrait V
Oil on Masonite
1' x 1'

Thomas Dittmeier's painting is concerned with movement, duration, and change of state.
In Self Portrait V this process of recording movement from observation creates a seething head.
Each moment within the duration corresponds to a feature or area in the portrait-
the left eye expresses the searching look of the artist confronting himself and the viewer in the mirror;
the right eye looks away in a moment of disappointment or self doubt as it slips away from the head;
the axis of the nose breaks left and bends the forehead;
the mouth parts open idly and shows the white smear of the teeth.
These privileged moments, sewn together by passages of paint,
form the complex psychology of a duration,
a distorted face which seems to emerge freshly from the diffusing paint,
sitting on its bowed and meager board.

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