Complexion Rings I

24 in x 24 in,

8/2024

After painting the "Fitzpatrick Deconstructed" set and having many custom colors made up to pay homage to the many skin tones of human pigmentation, I had the idea of doing a square painting made up of concentric circles. To do this, I laid down a straight line from one corner to its opposite corner, and then divided that line (from the centerpoint) into 1 cm blocks (42 from the center to the corners). Then, I used geometric compasses to intersect the centimeter points to make circles of increasing size all the way to the edge of the canvas. I then filled in the circles one color at a time, going from dark to light for "Complexion Rings - I" and going from light to dark for "Complexion Rings - II". The colors are intentionally copied in sequence from the one painting to the other, but I purposely did not lay them down in a pure light-to-dark sequence for artistic interest. The circles remind me of tree rings. As the age of a tree can be estimated by counting the rings, so can our society be represented by the many individuals who add richness and distinctiveness with their own unique skin complexions.