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Image 1 of 1
This is a portrait of Madonna. Her smile is forced — pulled, almost artificial. It’s the kind of smile you learn to wear when appearances become everything, when the show must go on no matter the cost. Time is not allowed to stop, and ageing is not forgiven. The idea of growing older with grace is denied.
I painted her as a woman who has to keep dancing to the rhythm the entertainment system sets. A system that celebrates youth, desire, and perfection, but offers very little mercy. There is no pause, no silence, no room to simply be. Only performance.
What interests me here is not celebrity, but pressure. The pressure to remain desirable, relevant, untouched by time. The pressure placed especially on women, whose value is too often measured by how well they resist ageing rather than how deeply they live.
Sometimes figures like this remind me of beautiful birds trapped inside golden cages. Admired, protected, fed — but never free. Watched constantly, praised endlessly, yet unable to escape the role they were given.
This is a portrait of Madonna. Her smile is forced — pulled, almost artificial. It’s the kind of smile you learn to wear when appearances become everything, when the show must go on no matter the cost. Time is not allowed to stop, and ageing is not forgiven. The idea of growing older with grace is denied.
I painted her as a woman who has to keep dancing to the rhythm the entertainment system sets. A system that celebrates youth, desire, and perfection, but offers very little mercy. There is no pause, no silence, no room to simply be. Only performance.
What interests me here is not celebrity, but pressure. The pressure to remain desirable, relevant, untouched by time. The pressure placed especially on women, whose value is too often measured by how well they resist ageing rather than how deeply they live.
Sometimes figures like this remind me of beautiful birds trapped inside golden cages. Admired, protected, fed — but never free. Watched constantly, praised endlessly, yet unable to escape the role they were given.