This individual painting is part of 'The Pretending'. An ongoing series where oil-painted portraits of masked strangers delve into the complexities of identity and the pressure to conform. While these figures might seem real, they are entirely fabricated, based on AI-generated images of people who don't exist. The masks, layered with traditional painting techniques, blur the boundaries between reality and artifice, questioning what it means to be authentic. Each piece is deliberately numbered, underscoring the series' systematic and constructed nature.