Consider the physical and software prep work that we do to create our social media presence. As the Internet progressively invades our psyche, online identity is a major component of ego. Are we the same person in physical reality as we are online, or is there a new dichotomy of self? Where is the real me?
persona
open studio: boy meets girl /
Boy Meets Girl (2 Knobs with Variable Resistance), 2016. Colored pencil, graphite, and gouache on paper. 11" x 15"
This drawing is a study of potentiometers and their knobs as a metaphor for people and their personas. A potentiometer is a device that is used to adjust (vary) resistance in a circuit. Volume knobs are potentiometers. Or, more accurately, a volume knob is mounted into the shaft of a potentiometer to facilitate easy adjustment. In order than the entire mechanism doesn't turn when you twist the knob, potentiometers (aka "pots") are mounted into some kind of panel. Most people only see the knob mounted onto the panel, and are never privy to the pot behind -- which is the real story.
Relationships are similar. We hide our true selves behind a rigid panel, a wall, presenting others with a knob, or persona, with which to interact. Other factors twist our knob, represented here by a bunch of thumbs in the sky. Maybe God, maybe fate, maybe spirits ... who knows. In my drawing, I included a spark gap in the foreground which will ignite if the boy's and girl's knobs are properly adusted. If they are turned on, so to speak, ;-)