A Covid Lockdown Project.
This series of (actually a little over) 100 portraits came about during one fo the Covid lockdowns where I became tired of drawing myself, so thought it would be fun to put a social media callout for people with the same basic look as me; bald head and beard. What started out as fun, became quite an interesting mini survey of men and really appealed to me because of my interest in masculinity and how this is performed by men. The beard comes in and out of fashion, and is almost exclusively the proviso of men. It's not everyone's favourite look, but is often linked to ideas of visibility and masculinity. Facial hair is also sometimes political and sometimes contentious. Beards have a symbolism, and therefore meaning, that can be deployed voluntarily. Baldness on the other hand is typically not-optional and has negative connotations of being symbolic sometimes of a loss of virility. I love this combination. The series was exhibited as a single work in the 2022 Contemporary British Portrait Painters' Exhibition.