Portrait of George Bernard Shaw

by Bob Conge

“The making of the work is a spiritual ritual that requires a dialog with the subject, materials and myself, often conducted by the grace of some unwritten poetry. It sometimes seems like the channeling of all the history of art that came before me to the work at hand.The path to a completed work is never the same. Sometimes it's a tango, other times it's a waltz. This work is from my current series of portraits that is inspired by both night and day dreams of my interaction with the subject. The face we present to the world is rarely the one we see in the mirror thus inspiring me to look deeper into each individual in search of how they became who they are. What life experiences and choices over time molded the face before me ? For me a portrait must express much more than a mere likeness. It can be an image as unique as the individual and pulse with the vitality of the life they lived. My work is my only voice in this wilderness of noise.”