Uncle Chris Portraits

My niece’s most recent, stunning portrayal of me (immediately below)…this time in the bold medium of pencil and paper. Two and a half years ago, we commissioned the same artist in the same task (photo on bottom). At that time, the artist, who simply goes by the name of “Catherine”, made the provocative decision of using crayon, resulting in a piece that garnered £950,000 ($1.35 million) in auction. One clearly must reflect on the issue of “hands” in both pieces. In the earlier piece, the subject appears to have no hands. In the more recent, the artist introduces the theme of speculation as the viewer is left to wonder, “Does Uncle Chris not have hands or are they simply ‘off canvas’?” Another critical speculation facing the viewer as they travel from the older piece to the new: “Has Uncle Chris employed some form of hair loss treatment in the past two years?”