$135.00
Materiel: Acrylic on Board
Size: 12″ H x 12″ W
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Better Half Myth: This acrylic-on-board painting explores marriage and romantic union as an idea often pursued more fervently than it is understood. Through satire and fragmentation, the work questions the cultural promise of “finding one’s better half,” suggesting that without empathy, communication, and compromise, partnership becomes less a destination and more an endless search.
The figures in “Better Half Myth“ are merged yet divided, occupying the same physical space while remaining psychologically separate. Their faces, split into contrasting planes of color and expression, imply coexistence without cohesion. Love here is not absent; it is present, vivid, and even playful, but it is strained by imbalance. One eye looks outward while the other looks inward; one mouth is composed while the other appears performative. These contradictions reflect how relationships often function when roles replace understanding.
The small animal cradled between the figures symbolizes vulnerability: the shared responsibility, tenderness, or emotional truth that depends entirely on mutual care. It is held, but precariously. The surrounding decorative vines echo romantic ideals of growth, attachment, and beauty, yet they repeat mechanically, hinting at expectations inherited rather than consciously chosen.
The Better Half Myth does not reject love or marriage. Instead, it critiques the fantasy of completion, the belief that another person can resolve one’s internal fractures. The work suggests that “happily ever after” is not a fixed state but a continuous act requiring awareness and effort. Without those, love becomes a performative unity that masks emotional distance.
The painting draws from modern primitivism, cubist fragmentation, and folk-art symbolism. Bold outlines and flattened forms reject realism in favor of psychological truth. The composition is vertically symmetrical yet emotionally asymmetrical, reinforcing the tension between togetherness and dissonance.
Color plays a central narrative role. Warm and cool tones collide across facial planes, suggesting conflicting emotional temperatures within the relationship. The background’s rhythmic vine motif creates visual harmony that contrasts with the internal discord of the figures, emphasizing the gap between appearance and reality.
The simplified anatomy, mask-like faces, and graphic ornamentation recall childlike clarity while addressing adult complexity—an intentional contrast that sharpens the satire.
Frida Kahlo (symbolic intimacy and relational identity)
Jean-Michel Basquiat (raw color, psychological tension)
Folk and Outsider Art traditions emphasize narrative symbolism over realism
This painting succeeds as a quiet provocation. Its humor is subtle, its critique empathetic rather than cynical. By refusing to idealize union, the artist offers a more honest vision of love—one that acknowledges closeness without coherence. The work lingers because it feels uncomfortably familiar, holding a mirror to romantic aspiration while exposing its fractures.
