Central Face

Statement

A working body of paintings, May 2026 to ongoing. The face sits in the middle of the canvas and the rest of the canvas is allowed to riot around it. I had been making collage and photograph-based work for a year and never knew when a piece was finished. Once a face is on a surface, every other mark has to negotiate with it, the drips choose to go around the eye or through it, the colors push the head forward or let it sink. There is somebody to argue with. Scribbling is the opposite of drawing. A scribble is what the hand does when it stops asking for permission. Charcoal on top of tempera on top of acrylic on top of spray, scratched into with a key, none of these marks are decisions exactly. They are speeds. Many of the recent pieces have something falling, cloth, hair, paint itself, partly covering the face. I grew up in a country where women in my family kept their hair and their skin and their bodies under cloth most of the time. That is part of where the drape comes from. The other part is the realization that being covered and being free are not opposites. Sometimes the drape is what lets the face stay alive. These works are 4 × 6 ft and bigger. They live at the size of a person. Prithwee A, 2026