The Unknown Citizen

  I have been grappling with the issue of constraint and conflict in our daily life, both external and internal, both spiritual and secular, both personal and universal. "The Unknown Citizen" is a tribute to W. H. Auden's verse. Written in 1939, the piece has become more and more relevant in today's mechanizing society. This series of paintings express the conflict between social constraints and the fulfillment of the human spirit. Inspired by peeling plaster of dilapidated urban ghetto, I often use washes of paints over human visages to create the self-obscuring, confining effect.