spiritual blindness / Soul Portraits
Immersed in a hazy atmosphere, this series of portraits emerges traumatically from the shadows.
Their visceral gestures materialize presences that teeter between the subtle and the sordid. Saturations,
mists, and chiaroscuro allow these veiled faces to reveal the complexity of the
human soul. Echoing Rembrandt's Baroque style, German Expressionism, and
Francis Bacon's transfiguration of bodies, these paintings depict the masks worn by
human beings, masks that can devour their faces, break their spirits, but that can also
be liberating. In fact, the word "person" comes from the masks worn by actors in
Greek theater to embody their characters, masks that often blurred the lines between
the performer and their role. Like these “people,” LC-Betel’s existential paintings invite us to question the relationships between raw matter and the drama of human existence. His paradoxical figures reveal a society that, in the midst of war, dons carnival attire and disguises itself as joy to overcome all its pain. Like a distorting mirror, these portraits seek to challenge the viewer’s spirituality and unsettle their psyche.
mists, and chiaroscuro allow these veiled faces to reveal the complexity of the
human soul. Echoing Rembrandt's Baroque style, German Expressionism, and
Francis Bacon's transfiguration of bodies, these paintings depict the masks worn by
human beings, masks that can devour their faces, break their spirits, but that can also
be liberating. In fact, the word "person" comes from the masks worn by actors in
Greek theater to embody their characters, masks that often blurred the lines between
the performer and their role. Like these “people,” LC-Betel’s existential paintings invite us to question the relationships between raw matter and the drama of human existence. His paradoxical figures reveal a society that, in the midst of war, dons carnival attire and disguises itself as joy to overcome all its pain. Like a distorting mirror, these portraits seek to challenge the viewer’s spirituality and unsettle their psyche.
