
Mind 49, as I mentioned in a recent post of his work, has moved into a new groove, in which he is presenting portraits, where only the eyes and nose are visible, while the rest of the face is obscured behind a cover of colour/patterns/designs, as if wearing a balaclava.

There is a clever and deliberate juxtaposition between the photorealism of the exposed parts of the face, and the rather childish and scruffy elements around it. The daisies seem to be a particular favourite theme for Mind 49 at the moment, and here he has included a couple of small captions: “Cut and run” and “Sometimes don’t do it”.
I may be way off the mark here, but I can’t help feeling that this presentation style demonstrates a touch of modesty or even a lack of confidence. Mind 49 is more than capable of painting excellent portraits, but it feels like this ‘self-harming’ of his work is masking something else, almost coming across as imposter syndrome. It is, having said all of this, very unusual, challenging and creates a great talking point.