Right/Left Side 1987-1993

” I learned to recognize the thorough and primitive duality of man; I saw that, of the two natures that contended in my field of consciousness, even if I could rightly be said to be either, it was only because I was radically both, even before the course of my scientific discoveries had begun to suggest the most naked possibility of such a miracle, I had learned to dwell with pleasure, as a beloved daydream, on the thought of the separation of these elements.” — Dr. Henry Jekyll

Summer 1979:
I wanted to portray the split in my personality that I always wrestled with and decided to try an experiment. I put a patch on my left eye and drew the right side of my body in the mirror, using my right eye and right hand, then did the reverse and drew with my left hand for the very first time. To my surprise, not only could I draw equally well but it  brought out an elemental side of me that I never had portrayed before.

It actually felt like two different sides were coming out when I used each hand(and at 19, I was not yet aware of the brain hemisphere studies). The right side expressed the usual angry, pained impatient self I had always depicted while the left showed for the first time a quiet and reflective side -the perfect mate to the other half.

The next time I  drew with the left hand was six years later. By then (through my studies of faces),  I began to  see clearly how the dif-ferent  brain hemispheres are reflected in the body. drawing with separate hands bought a new di-mension to this split. for example, I found I was able to  feel the weight and surface of objects clearly with my right hand while the left naturally felt the space around them: