Description:

Laden is an uncomfortable painting to discuss; because, in reality...

I am the one presented as a heartbroken little boy who is lying in defeat with his unwanted flower, shielded from further harm by the cradle of his (my) mother's long embrace, while simultaneously still haunted by the specter of the feminine mystique*, which was seen as both life and death, and was always present in consciousness.

*The feminine mystique referred to here is not a reference to the psychological conflict addressed in the book by the same name, The Feminine Mystique (by Betty Friedan); but instead, it is an attempt to classify the mystery and awe I encountered in observations and interactions with the female persuasion.

The conflict for me was found in trying to understand how I was supposed to receive this wonderfully complicated "she" into my life, as I wrestled with concepts of affection, love and sex (which are not the same things, although they can certainly exist together).

Also, because my siblings and I were mostly raised by our single mother, traditional gender roles were never imposed on us as a universal rule (even though there was clear evidence of this phenomena to be found everywhere around us).