by Michael Hanrahan

I am puzzled

I was a bit puzzled at first until I clicked on the image and realised there is a face and it isn't a bottom - different, unusual and intriguing - it has really grown on me

Thankyou for the comments. I apologise if the physical appearance aswell any meaning may be abit vague. I was strongly inspired by seeing several works not only by rembrandt but Velazquez aswell. To my eye there are some similarities in style especially to rembrandt. I wanted to leave the picture open to the interpretation of the viewer. Whatever the viewer sees, that is the reality, to them, regardless of any absolute truth.

The face is hard to make out and because the body is heavily shadowed it is hard to make out aswell. What i painted was a woman in middle age stood with a transparent veil covering her breasts. Because the face is in almost complete darkness its even hard to see whether this is male or female. It can be either according to the viewer. Just because the subject has breasts does not mean we are seeing a female or ,that is, a female head. I try to go abit deeper than simply representing a woman who appears as a woman and is a woman.

Why did i paint the transparent veil? Its a case of her covering up but revealing herself aswell. Thats the simplest reading.

this is amazing, it suggests so many things, like diving into something primal