Kepsibel
"itch the scratch"
INT. DR. MELFI'S OFFICE – DAY
Tony sits across from Dr. Melfi. A long silence hangs between them.
DR. MELFI
Do you want to tell me what you're thinking?
TONY SOPRANO
Believe me, you don't want to know.
A beat.
TONY SOPRANO
You want to know what I'm thinking?
Another beat.
TONY SOPRANO
Seriously?
He leans forward slightly.
TONY SOPRANO
I'm thinking I'd like to take a brick
and smash your fucking face into a
fucking hamburger.
Dr. Melfi absorbs this.
DR. MELFI
...Okay.
TONY SOPRANO
I'm not...
He gestures dismissively.
TONY SOPRANO (CONT'D)
Don't worry. I know I broke your coffee
table, and it's not going to happen
again.
TONY SOPRANO (CONT'D)
You asked, I told.
DR. MELFI
But you'd like to smash my face—
TONY SOPRANO
Not really. It's just a way of
describing how I'm feeling.
DR. MELFI
Do you think making hamburger out of me
would make you feel better?
Tony exhales in frustration.
TONY SOPRANO
Mother of Christ, is this a woman
thing? You asked me how I'm feeling.
I tell you how I'm feeling, and now
you're gonna torture me with it.
A pause.
TONY SOPRANO (CONT'D)
I don't know who the fuck I'm angry
at. I'm just angry.
The idiom “scratch an itch” means to alleviate or satisfy a strong desire or need, often by taking action to obtain what is desired.
Shifting the syntax, transposing the idiom, and exchanging ‘an’ for ‘the’ drastically alters meaning derived
from three (relatively) simple words.
This body of work explores the fragility of language—the languages we use with one another and the languages we develop within creative practice. Oil and canvas are the primary forms through which I explore the fluidity of meaning and how it agitates.
A basic tenet of the human experience is the yearning to be heard, understood, and to bask in a moment of shared comprehension. Humans have developed a myriad of ways to express what we hold within; we verbalize, we use non-verbal signals, we paint pictures, we write poetry, we use signs and semiotics, we pass notes, we send text messages filled with funny little yellow faced emojis, we offer gifts, we pander, we perform.
And yet, opportunities for misinterpretation remain endless. There is no certainty that what you wish to share with another has been received in the manner you intended. The variables that influence the receiver are immeasurable. So, one must surrender to the fallibility of communication.
In this body of work, colour, line, perspective, scale and gesture become the conduit for confession and contemplation. Canvas acts as a recipient of this candour, which alternates between visual cacophony and something entirely more subdued. Gentle swathes of colour and sweeping brush strokes illustrate the tenderness that underpins the collection of paintings.
"itch the scratch" is an opportunity to relinquish the desire to control perception and comprehension of the languages that I speak. I rescind the desire to demand that I share a singular truth and by abandoning the need to be understood, I am opposing Ludwig Wittgenstein's statement, "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent", because I see no reason to cease the eternal lust for engagement with another. And anyway, Wittgenstein totally came out and disagreed with a bunch of stuff he said in Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus.
Futhermore, these works embody a sense of celebration; a celebration of the lengths we will go to share our inner worlds, a celebration of the varying degrees of success that we have in attempting to do so, a celebration of innumerable failures we sustain in our efforts and the magnitude of these perceived successes or failures. These paintings celebrate the miracle that we are able to do any of it, at all.
Finally, I do not deny that moments of true comprehension exist. I like to think of them as shared hallucinations—for that is how rare and magical they seem.
If you would like to talk more about tony soprano please email kepsibel@kepsibel.com
If you would like to purchase a painting please email kepsibel@kepsibel.com