“Matted Framed Masks”

Artist Diaries

12/10/25

After finishing the last 12pc of the Black and White Film, I reworked on one of the first pieces of the warmup that was too dark. Ended up doing a ying-yang positive-negative play that inspired to continue experimenting. I left it over a large mat that I had done in the past. The mat was mostly a black swipe, lighter on the top, dense on the bottom. This unexpected match was a perfect intriguing combination. Loved the overlap. It got me thinking, of what if I play with B&W overlapping pieces.

Even though both are art works, the painted mat could be trimmed like a regular mat over the smaller artwork. I do love the idea that once trimmed, the white border line of thickness will show around the inner smaller piece. This border is a perfect representation of the clean expectation of a “perfect society”. It doesn’t matter if your inner world & thoughts (inner artwork) & and your outer world (mat artwork) are both chaotic, you are still expected to be presentable & well put together for society. This white border line is like the Adderall of control and behavior.

The overlap itself serves as a mask. Sometimes because of fear of rejection, we use acceptable mask to go out to society and indirectly protect ourselves. Which mask are you wearing today? Are you being true to yourself? Since we are raised to behave to society’s expectation, sometimes that might force people who are not secure about themselves or have low self-esteem to pretend to be someone else. Depending on the situation, or who they are trying to impress, they wear different masks to feel accepted. I find this to be so sad. When these people were kids, they were not taught the tools of self-identity and inner love. Sad because in adulthood, they haven’t found the correct tools to heal. We should all be happy with who we are and who we choose to have around us. It’s an honor to have our inner circle of people and selected family. I feel I have always understood this concept, but later in life, to protect my soul and energy, I cannot have a conversation if I can’t be 100% true to myself. I prefer to not talk to certain people, that for some reason or another, I cannot be an open book.