La belle noiseuse (the beautiful troublemaker)

This token is based on one of my physical paintings created in 2015 and digitally remastered and retouched in 2022. It is inspired by Honoré de Balzac's short story "The unknown masterpiece". In the story, Frenhofer was an aged master of impeccable artistic ability, who had devoted more than a decade to creating one "perfect" work of art. He never showed his masterpiece to anyone, but he often spoke about it being his greatest achievement. When the artwork is dramatically revealed in the end of the story, to the two protagonist's surprise, it is a mess of brushstrokes and colours from which a life-like woman's foot emerges. Since it’s publication in 1831, many artists have been inspired by Balzac's novella, notably Cezanne, Picasso and De Kooning. Creating this work presented the obvious challenge of re-enacting the never-ending painting described by Balzac and it is of course informed by numerous historical paintings of the female nude - mostly by male artists. But going further than that, I wanted to touch upon the problem of artwork completion and setting the bar too high (or too low): how do artists know when an artwork is complete? What is "beauty" or "perfection" and are they ever achievable? The pursuit of an impossible vision can create a vicious cycle of experimentation and revision and the artist’s creative force itself can often lead to uncertainty and doubt with self-destructive consequences. In a way, this work is also autobiographical: what is shown in the work is as important as what has been painted over, erased, or smeared. More than a finished picture, a document of the Sisyphean artistic process, imprinting the excitement of every successful stroke and the despair of every error. Like many of my works, a painting about painting itself.