While there is a simple answer to this question, I would really like to digress and take a deep dive into the complex world of humans’ emotions. Their ways of expression, and what it communicates about us and our behaviour as a human species.
That’s actually an important factor because the portraits I’m painting right now are fictional characters from more or less known books. It happens so that my imaginations is on psychedelics 24/7 (not in the reality, it’s how my brain’s wired), so very naturally it happens so that my imagination is quite vivid, fruiting, and detailed. Basically, when I read, I can see a movie right inside my head with all the characters and scenes. I cannot turn it off.
But there are some special moments of emotional interest for me in which I see some characters especially colourful, or I find the moment or the scene intriguing and very alive. Those maybe the smallest moments in the whole book, but they stay with me for the biggest variety of reasons.
So, yes, my personal interest biasses my paintings. Some of the Images I generate in my head I especially like because the character is so intense and interesting in the given moment. The others may replicate a situation or emotional states in which I happened to find myself previously in life, so I feel strong for them. It’s easy for me to feel the empty and to know how they would look in this very moment. Because I’ve been there, done that (yes, that’s a Pitfall quote).
Huh, here we can get more philosophical and discuss the eternal question of “is the art supposed to be beautiful”? For me, the art is supposed to make you feel something. Good or bad, new or revisiting old memories, anger, or happiness. It doesn’t matter as long as it touches something in the viewer. So, no, art is not supposed to be beautiful. People are not supposed to be beautiful. They’re also not obliged to be happy all the time. It’s really up on every individual what you make out of your tears — you get up and create a new version of yourself using these tears as a catalyst, or you never recover from them.
On the other hand, are tears always that negative? I think, we’re conditioned to emotionalise some words and/ or actions, and we often forget that the most words of any language are neutral. To cry is just to be in an emotional state that brings tears to the eyes. Haven’t you ever cried yourself to tears laughing with your best friend about the dumbest joke you’ve ever heard? Haven’t you’ve ever cried looking at baby animals being loved by their parents? Haven’t you cried at the yes moment of a wedding ceremony? Haven’t you cried after passing the hardest exam or getting your degree done?
There are so many things that can lead to an emotional outburst that ends up in tears that I could go on and on for a very long time here. The fact is, tears help our bodies to free themselves from the stress and tension. And the reasons that cause the stress or the tensions in individuals are as different as there are people on the planet.
Tears are the most versatile way of expressing emotions. All the spectra from good to bad. And I think, there’s something very vulnerable about the tears. They’re so natural for our bodies and minds, but they’re also being misused and even tabooed for some social groups.
For instance, misogynists love to spread the belief that women use their tears to emotionally manipulate men. But isn’t it because they’re themselves stripped of this “weapon”? I mean, when they say that don’t they actually confess that if men’s tears were socially accepted, they would use it left and right, and the only thing that’s keeping them off it is the narrative that “men don’t cry”? Why don’t men cry? Why is crying considered weak? It’s because you can’t control your lacrimal? The lack of control? Is that it? Patriarchy is getting less and less impressive by the minute of its existing.
The best men I happened to know in my life cry a lot. Tears free your body and mind, offering them a way to get rid of the tension and keep things clear. It’s an essential mechanism of emotional regulation. For good and for bad emotions, as our mental state can only handle that much tension.
For the longest time of my life, the most dangerous thing to my existence I could’ve done was to be or even show myself being vulnerable. So I feel strong when I see or imagine other people in this state. Books are the perfect place to confront yourself with vulnerability because anything or anyone who lets you into his/hers life and even mind automatically gets very vulnerable. If somebody cries infant of me, I feel like something exceptional is happening because the other person decided to trust me in showing emotions. Nothing connects people so much as crying over something together.
Maybe this is the reason the scenes where the characters are crying are so appealing to me. They offer the fastest way to connect with the character and his/hers story. The ability to read the facial expression and feel something is what only we as humans have. It’s our own way of communication.
I would like to share more of the art I make where I paint people laughing, but that’s for another time.
Tears are the most versatile way of expressing emotions. All the spectra from good to bad. And I think, there’s something very vulnerable about the tears. They’re so natural for our bodies and minds, but they’re also being misused and even tabooed for some social groups.
For instance, misogynists love to spread the belief that women use their tears to emotionally manipulate men. But isn’t it because they’re themselves stripped of this “weapon”? I mean, when they say that don’t they actually confess that if men’s tears were socially accepted, they would use it left and right, and the only thing that’s keeping them off it is the narrative that “men don’t cry”? Why don’t men cry? Why is crying considered weak? It’s because you can’t control your lacrimal? The lack of control? Is that it? Patriarchy is getting less and less impressive by the minute of its existing.
The best men I happened to know in my life cry a lot. Tears free your body and mind, offering them a way to get rid of the tension and keep things clear. It’s an essential mechanism of emotional regulation. For good and for bad emotions, as our mental state can only handle that much tension.
For the longest time of my life, the most dangerous thing to my existence I could’ve done was to be or even show myself being vulnerable. So I feel strong when I see or imagine other people in this state. Books are the perfect place to confront yourself with vulnerability because anything or anyone who lets you into his/hers life and even mind automatically gets very vulnerable. If somebody cries infant of me, I feel like something exceptional is happening because the other person decided to trust me in showing emotions. Nothing connects people so much as crying over something together.
Maybe this is the reason the scenes where the characters are crying are so appealing to me. They offer the fastest way to connect with the character and his/hers story. The ability to read the facial expression and feel something is what only we as humans have. It’s our own way of communication.
I would like to share more of the art I make where I paint people laughing, but that’s for another time.
Love you,
Lorena