Portrait of the Artist, Age 48

Stephen Cefalo

Oil on canvas

This self-portrait was inspired by a Northern Renaissance tradition of portraiture, in which words curled out of the subject’s mouths, usually religious messages.  I searched my mind for esoteric messages I might like to share this way.  When this one popped into my head, I couldn’t stop laughing, and yet, nothing could more accurately express what I wanted to say.