Faces Within – A Cubist Conversation

A bold cubist-inspired composition built from interlocking faces in flat, saturated colour, arranged so that individual features are shared between neighbouring figures.

Profiles, frontal faces and isolated eyes are fitted together across the canvas in orange, teal, cobalt blue, red, mustard and olive green, each shape defined by a heavy black outline. Several faces are formed from two or three contrasting colour planes, split vertically or diagonally down the face.

Decorative detail runs through the composition - striped panels, dotted patterns, a red-and-black checked band - filling the spaces between figures and adding rhythm without breaking the structure.

The entire arrangement sits on a solid black ground, which separates every element and keeps the high-contrast palette clean. A visible directional grain within each colour block gives the surface a hand-painted, matte finish.

A large, high-energy piece, best suited to a wall with room around it, where the composition can be viewed as a whole and then explored close up.

Count the faces. You'll get a different number each time.

That's the whole pleasure of this one. Some are obvious - a profile in orange, a blue face with a full mouth, a green-capped head near the centre right. Others emerge slowly. A shape you read as a cheek turns out to be somebody else's forehead. Two faces share one edge, and neither of them loses anything.

The eyes are what hold it together. Nine or ten of them, all wide open, some looking straight out at you, some off to the side. They're the most carefully painted part of the picture, and they're the reason it feels populated rather than merely patterned.

Everything sits on flat black, and the black is doing serious work. It runs between every shape as a hard outline and pools in the gaps, which is why colours this loud never turn muddy. Orange sits next to teal, red beside deep blue, and none of it fights.

The surface has a fine grain throughout - you can see the direction of the strokes inside each block of colour, so nothing reads as machine-flat.

This is a piece for a wall you actually walk past. People stop at it. Then they come back and find a face they missed.

Handle with clean, dry hands.

Avoid touching the printed surface.

Frame behind glass or acrylic.

Keep away from sunlight, heat, and moisture.

Dust gently with a soft cloth.

Never fold or tightly roll.

Store flat between acid-free sheets.

Avoid water, sprays, adhesives, and harsh chemicals.