the last piece of art

September 2020, oil on canvas, 36” x 48”

The Last Piece of Art is an important piece to me personally and artistically as I felt it pushed me further to think about combined image and text. The phrase, “I am the whole cake”, was something my therapist came up with to remind me of my individuality and completeness on my own. The next part of the text, “this is the last piece of art I’ll make about you” is one I created on my own because this piece was an act of letting go. The audience may not know the inspiration behind me creating this piece but they are still able to make their own assumptions and relations based on reading the text. I like the idea of combining the jarring text with the delicacy of the cake. I wanted to combine this strong phrase with a strong subject and pair them together to see how they contrast and compliment each other. The green and red complimentary color palette is strong, bold, and sickly to go against the playfulness idea of a birthday cake.