The Power Of They

Oil Painting by Dr. Rotraut Wurst

Fascinated by a gesture of a person with the pronoun “they, them”, known to me only via Zoom, my gaze remained fixed on this hand position the whole time: The arm bent, the hand in front of the chest, a hand position of a diva from old movies, like Greta Garbo, Rita Hayworth, Marlene Dietrich or Zarah Leander.

This drove me to the canvas, and I painted and painted, this power, this energy, “the Force” or “Qi”, the erotic charisma, all facets I wanted to capture in paint. But the face eluded me, could not be held and captured in color. For weeks I changed it again and again, with glasses, without glasses, but with glasses. But only an approximation was possible. Probably they would not recognize themself in the picture or would smile and say, “So that’s how you see me.”
I think there will be another painterly approach at some point. Because the challenge is still there.

2022, Oil Paint, 30×40 cm