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Lien Truong
Oil and wax painting of a blurry man's face

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Portrait of a Citizen: Mark

Portrait of a Citizen: Mark explores the relationship between citizen and identity in America given its increasingly diverse composition. The portrait is comprised of two generations from one family, my husband Mark and his maternal grandfather, an immigrant whose portrait is painted first in smooth, neutral tones indicative of its old photographic source. Mark, an American citizen, is painted directly on top of this image in pixilated wax and pigment. The result is a double image within the fragmented skin of tinted wax in which each portrait layer cannot be fully realized without being obstructed by the other. Although the two portraits are kin by association, similarities are altered by variations of ethnicity, nationality and/or citizenship.