Farrell Tompkins

Self Portrait

Color reduction woodcut
29 1/4" x 22 1/2"

Farrell's images
Farrell's website

"Ever the quiet observer of the world around me, I have an intense awareness of my place within the social sphere, especially as a woman and an artist. Self-portraiture allows me to explore art-making from the vantage point of my own familiar, private world. This body of work points toward my individual psychological experience, placing the viewer in the same space I occupied as I observed myself in the mirror. Although this position might suggest special insight, I intend to raise questions as to whether the viewer can ever know my personal psychological truth."

"The medium of reductive woodcut printmaking makes it possible for me to craft this interaction. Original drawings are analyzed as a series of shapes and broken down into layers of value. The manipulation of abstract shapes causes a sense of separation between the viewer and the artist, and ultimately underscores my role as creator of my own image".