Looking Glass Girl

by Steve Henderson

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Price

$950

Dimensions

18.000 x 24.000 inches

Title

Looking Glass Girl

Artist

Steve Henderson

Medium

Painting - Charcoal On Paper

Description

Who can resist seeing themselves in the mirror?

Even the least vain of us stops in the midst of brushing our hair to take a look, a good look, at our reflection:

“I like the way my hair looks!” we say to ourselves, or, too often, it’s more along the lines of,

“I’m looking old. There are creases under my eyes. Is my skin really that sallow? I think I’m gaining weight.”

And then we stand back, adjust the light, tilt the head, and say, “No, I look really good! I think I look younger/skinnier/stronger/more athletic/attractive than I did yesterday.”

Deep down, we are insecure about who we are and what we look like, assaulted as we are by a culture of narcissistic celebrity worship. Whether we want to or not, we compare ourselves to the illusion of what the Beautiful People look like, and too often find ourselves falling short. (By the way, even the Beautiful People don’t look like the Beautiful People – photo and video manipulating software do wonders to all faces; in the 21st century, now more than ever, you CANNOT believe what you see on media.)

The young woman in the artwork Looking Glass Girl is doing just that, looking at herself. Young, svelte, confident, she looks at her mirrored image with the question that we all, at some point in our lives, ask ourselves:

“Who am I, really?”

She doesn’t dislike what she sees; she is curious about it, discovering more about herself as she examines her smile, her gaze, the tilt of her head. Here, in her bedroom, preparing for a special evening, she stops to think, to question, to wonder and imagine.

And the oddest thing about it is this: what she sees in the mirror is not what others see, because the mirrored reflection is flipped; it’s a different perspective. And while the difference seems small it is nonetheless significant, and serves as a reminder of something else: what we see in others is not what they see, because their view of themselves comes from the looking glass.

It’s something to think about, then next time you catch sight of yourself in the mirror.

Uploaded

March 9th, 2022

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