The Salon

The inspiration for this painting came while viewing a store selling fabrics in Italy. In the display window I saw a rich fabric draped around a mannequin missing head, arms, and legs. Immediately came to my mind a salon with a social gathering of eminent people at the house of some wealthy host, and I imagined three different characters to populate the scene.
Capturing the attention at the center of the composition is the host, a rich dress with just a hint of body sitting in the spotlight and “talking” smoke from the neck. On the right side, the predator - a standing headless mannequin with claws lurking in the dark - is chasing for opportunities at the gathering. Finally, in the lower left corner, the “presenzialista”, a person who attends the social event just to get noticed. The “presenzialista” is represented as a head with no features, whitened by face powder, and lighted by the reflected light from the host.