Face Reality Art Critique

This is an oil on canvas painting by Laurie Cooper called Face Reality. It illustrates a black woman holding a white mask to her face. The only parts of her visible are her face and hand. Her skin and hair are dark brown, and her lips are red. She has on a white earing, and a black long-sleeved garment. Her fingernails are silver peachy color, and the background is a reddish beige.

There is a sharp contrast between the color of her skin and the color of the mask. Her garment and her eyebrows, eyelashes, and hair are all the same color. The highlights on her lips make them look glossy, and she has strong facial features. All the attention is on her hand and face, which take up almost all the space in the print.  The work doesn’t seem very complicated.

I think this artwork is about black self-hatred. The lady in the picture is trying to cover up her blackness with a white mask, but it’s peeling off. Putting that mask over her face could represent things like weaves, skin bleaching, plastic surgery, and other things black women could do to look more white. The mask is peeling off though, which could represent that she was born black, and it’s in her D.N.A. She could get all the modifications to look just like a Caucasian Barbie doll, but it’s still in her genes, and her kids will look just as black as she was. The work depicts the harsh reality of it, trying to be someone you’re not. Her eyes are closed, which may mean that she can’t see the reality of what she’s doing. You can see that the girl is not ugly, but is still trying to hide herself.

I really like the painting. It has a strong message that I can relate to. The idea was nice, and the way she executed it was good, too. In the picture, the person looks very anatomically correct and detailed, especially her hand. It’s simplistic, which just a couple objects in it. Basically, it’s beautiful.