Who Am I?

Prismacolor pencil, ballpoint pen, gel pen & Posca paint marker on 6x8” cold press. This drawing is based on some classic tattoo flash by Bob Shaw, dating back to the 70s or possibly even earlier. This is my psychedelic, self-enquiring flip on it, taking the original question “who, me?” and going a bit further to explore instead “what is this concept that I hold of ‘me’? What is this ‘me’?” The question itself being literally flipped upside down playing off another familiar tattoo trope, as the question here, really, “is for me.” While on the surface this piece is a lighthearted tribute to tattoo legends that have come before, it also reveals an underlying sense of dis-ease that can come from a continued search for the self, as one begins dismantling belief structures that one may have never consciously chosen for oneself. We live in a world of mirrors and if we never look within we may spend much of our time lost and confused, following projections and reflections that do not encompass the fullness of our being. But hey, who hasn’t eaten a few too many and spent the next several hours writhing in agony over one’s past choices & experiences, right?