together/apart

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aileen imperatrice

self portraits

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together/apart

36” x 36” with a live installation. These are two chairs from my home, facing opposite directions, tied together with a yellow rope. I created this painting from the image I have of the relationships in my life, whether they are relative, associates, friends or anything, you have a tie that binds you to that other person. And even though there is something that ties you to that person, you’re two different people, you face different directions, you have different perspectives, different views on life, and this is an important symbol for me. I love these chairs, they’ve been in my household for quite a few years and they have the marks of age, you see a lot of paint rubbed off revealing other paint colors underneath. It’s the wear and tear of our daily lives, the different experiences that we have which give us the different perspectives. But we still have those wonderful ties that keep us together, sometimes they’re not so wonderful if we don’t want to be with that person, but hopefully for the most part the ties we have with people are because we sought it out that way. This helps me remember to take into consideration that we all have different views on life and we can still have those ties with people, but we have to appreciate that we look at the world from two different views. And I believe this can be a good thing because it makes conversations a lot more interesting, we have different thoughts to bring to the table and that alone challenges us to grow.

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