(Act 11)

Six Degrees of Separation: Act 11 contrasts a body that is simultaneously forming and unraveling, a reflection of the constant struggle to reconcile the dual nature of the self according to Kierkegaard: finite yet infinite, grounded yet abstract, defined yet hollow. Its aesthetics references Mannerism to intensify this tension, with the gesture of the hand clasping the chest amplifying the narrative of the self in crisis.

Alvarez’s use of acrylics and fast layering in the painting mirrors this restlessness and urgency of existential becoming. The fast reactive method of the medium – piling paint before the previous mark fully settles – evokes the unease and urgency for definition yet inability to rest in that decision. The painting then acts as both a portrait and a process - an anatomy of despair and visual introspection.

In its distortions, absences, and reaching gestures, the artist asks: What part of us is truly ours and what belongs to the echoes of others?