Meta-phorical Pears

I’ve used the an oft repeated theme in my work—the picture-in-a-picture imagery—in this, one of my most recent paintings. Painted on acrylic and oil on wood, Meta-phorical Pears is a self portrait. I am painting pears because my last name means "pear tree" in Portuguese, and pears have always been a part of my "branding." This piece is a comment on the effect that social media—especially Instagram—has had on how I think of and make art. While social media has broadened my exposure to the work of my contemporaries and has helped me improve my own skills (both positive effects), on the flip side it’s added a pervasive pressure to market myself, to always be ‘posting.’ It’s that love/hate relationship that I tried to convey with this work.