When Beauty Feels Slightly Off-Centre
Inner tension is one of the quiet forces that defines my surreal portraiture. It is the moment when something appears beautiful yet carries a faint distortion, a shift that makes the viewer pause. This tension is not meant to unsettle violently; it invites attention. Strange beauty emerges when softness meets edges that feel intuitively wrong, when harmony absorbs a sudden interruption, when the figure seems both serene and electrically charged. The portrait becomes a space where emotional friction creates its own visual language.
The Soft Surface and the Electric Undercurrent
Many of my figures hold a stillness that feels delicate, almost peaceful. But that softness is rarely alone. Beneath it runs an electric undercurrent—neon interruptions, unconventional hues, flashes of acidic colour that vibrate against the calm. This contrast mirrors the emotional experience of holding two truths at once: composure layered over intensity, gentleness masking internal movement. The aesthetic tension lives exactly in this coexistence. The portrait remains quiet, yet something inside it hums.
Surreal Edges That Shift Perception
Surrealism allows for slight distortions that change how the viewer understands the face. An outline that bends unnaturally, a mirrored feature that doubles the gaze, a botanical shape that sits too close to human skin—these small choices create friction without breaking the emotional coherence of the portrait. The edges feel dreamlike, the kind of dream where the world seems familiar until a detail refuses to behave. This subtle disobedience is what generates the strange beauty at the heart of the image.
Neon Interruptions as Emotional Sparks
The neon colours in my palette—fuchsia, ultraviolet lilac, acid green—act like emotional sparks. They interrupt the softness, not to overwhelm it, but to reveal what lies beneath it. A sudden streak of neon becomes a moment of honesty, a confession in colour. It highlights the tension between what is shown and what is felt. In the dark fairytale logic of my work, neon behaves like a flash of inner magic: a brief illumination of a feeling too sharp to remain hidden.
Emotional Friction Within the Feminine Gaze
The feminine presence in my portraits often appears composed, grounded in calm awareness. Yet this awareness carries its own friction. It is not passivity; it is quiet strength holding complex emotion. The gaze can feel distant and intimate at the same time, drawing the viewer closer while withholding complete understanding. This tension is deliberate. It creates an emotional border within the portrait, a place where softness protects intensity rather than concealing it.
Strange Beauty Through Botanical Distortions
The botanicals surrounding the figure play a central role in building tension. Their forms twist, mirror, or glow in ways that feel recognisable yet uncanny. A petal that curves too sharply or a vine that loops into impossible symmetry becomes a catalyst for emotional friction. These natural forms, transformed by surreal colour and geometry, contribute to the sense that the portrait holds a living tension—beauty that vibrates just beyond comfort.
Light as a Disturbance and a Guide
Light in my artworks behaves unpredictably. It outlines the face in irregular ways, forms glowing pockets in shadows, or appears to radiate from within the figure. This surreal illumination functions like emotional weather, shifting from soft to electric depending on the palette. Light becomes a subtle disturbance, shaping tension through contrast. It whispers that the calm surface is not the whole story, guiding the viewer to the emotional pulse hidden beneath the colour.
Multiplicity as Inner Friction
When a face is mirrored or multiplied, the portrait reveals its internal conflict more directly. The multiple versions coexist without resolution, each one reflecting a different emotional state. The tension between these selves creates a visual friction that feels psychologically alive. This multiplicity does not seek clarity; it embraces contradiction as part of the aesthetic. Strange beauty grows from the coexistence of these emotional layers, forming a portrait that breathes in several rhythms at once.
Tension as a Path to Honesty
Ultimately, the aesthetic of inner tension is a way to express emotional honesty. It allows the portrait to acknowledge the quiet contradictions of being human—calm and charged, soft and sharp, beautiful and unusual all at once. The viewer feels this friction rather than analyzing it. Through strange beauty, surreal edges, neon interruptions, and botanical distortions, the artwork becomes a space where tension is not a flaw but a form of truth. It is inside this friction that the emotional world of the portrait becomes clear, resonant, and unmistakably alive.
