The Inside Joke
This is my latest painting titled "Hollow Bonnet," created using a gel plate. It is part of my countdown to Halloween series, which celebrates both Halloween and the Day of the Dead, but it also belongs to my ongoing series "The Inside Joke." The concept of this series is that if you get the inside joke, you will understand the layered meanings woven into each piece. For those who do not, the painting can still be appreciated on a visual and symbolic level. The figure in "Hollow Bonnet" captures that duality of surface beauty and hidden emptiness, a theme I continue to explore through my work.
This painting takes a sharp look at the shifting values in modern society and the narcissistic behaviors that have become so common. We collect status symbols—designer clothes, name brand purses, expensive cars—as if they were badges of honor, all the while living hollow and disconnected lives. In the endless pursuit of validation, many sacrifice health, family, and integrity for the fleeting recognition of likes and follows. Social media magnifies this, with its curated portrayals of lavish dinners, glamorous outfits, and picture perfect families that mask a darker reality of dishonesty, manipulation, and fractured relationships.
"Hollow Bonnet" symbolizes that dissonance, how people crown themselves with empty glory while carrying within them unhealed wounds, dishonor, and endless contradictions. It is both a social critique and a visual reminder of how easily we can lose sight of what truly matters. In its place is a hollow performance of life where validation becomes the drug, and authenticity is the cost. The bonnet itself becomes a metaphor for the façade, an ornamental cover that hides the absence underneath.
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