Makeup mayhem, oil on canvas, 2007

In  2007 I started to make a series of paintings with cosmetic “utopias” as the main subject. In the same period I also started to read cosmetics tutorials and looking at imagery of cosmetics in various compositions including advertising. In some of the images the cosmetics were displayed in chaotic piles, in other imagery there were highly organized arrangements that reminded me of miniature cityscapes .

What fascinates me about cosmetics is that it is applied to the face to improve or to change our appearance. My idea was to create compositions using cosmetics as a metaphorical language. I wanted to reflect on how we try to embody an ideal and how we establish our identity, mirror our self in eachother and our surrounding.