M O N A   L I S A

IF MONA LISA WERE NEVER DISCOVERED​

Any artist worth their salt has had a go at painting the Mona Lisa. "If Mona Lisa Were Never Discovered" is every emerging artists lament. I have painted her cracked and weathered without the enigmatic smile but with more an enigmatic pissed off look. To reflect the times, we live in today, I have also painted her with the remnants of a black eye she is embarrassed about but remains proudly defiant. From a distance she looks directly at you with appealing big brown eyes but up close, when you look into her eyes, she appears to timidly look away. 

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Commercial Galleries do a great job of protecting their stable of contemporary artists and their monopoly on the elite art market and, fair enough, they work hard at that and take a lot of risk. After my experience in that arena I decided to paint my rendition of the Mona Lisa as an artist "self portrait" to be entered in the 2025 Archibald Prize at the Art Gallery of NSW under the watchful eye of those dictating art trends in the Sydney art scene.