Portraits of Dazzle: Paintings by Shigeki Matsuyama

“Portrait of Dazzle” is a series of portrait paintings by Japanese artist Shigeki Matsuyama, which was born out of the artist’s fascination with the concept of identity in the digital age.

Shigeki started the project by gathering selfies from the internet, intrigued by the way individuals construct their self-image amidst thousands of others online. He then used an image projector to transfer and trace the eyes from those photos onto the silhouette of a different person, deliberately choosing individuals with different characteristics such as race, gender, hairstyle or body type. The resulting portraits convey a sense of anonymity and challenge the reliability of information found on the Internet, confronting viewers with the idea that the eyes depicted could be those of someone they know, or even their own.

The ongoing series continues to evolve. An example of that is Shigeki’s most recent exhibition “Anonymous Heroes,” which explores the definition of justice through portraits of online self-proclaimed heroes.

More art on the grid Shigeki Matsuyama’s website