Artist Theda Sandiford and her piece Tag 1 on view at A Condo JC

by Sally Deering

 Womenâ€s faces are a myriad of feelings and emotions artist Theda Sandiford conveys in the mixed media paintings on view in Fragmented Identity, her solo show at ‘A†Condo on Washington Street in downtown Jersey City. The show opened Friday, June 8, and runs through July. 

 Sandifordâ€s show features 13 mixed media pieces that represent the many masks she wears throughout the course of a day, she says, either in her Jersey City studio or at her desk at Island Records in Manhattan where she works as a publicist.

“For me, the mask is who I need to be in the moment,” Sandiford says, as she gets ready to travel to Los Angeles for the record company. “I wear different ones for certain occasions and circumstances. Each of the masks are time frames of my life.”

Minerva by Theda Sandiford

Sandifordâ€s mixed media piece Headache looks like a womanâ€s head exploding into tiny little bits & bobs, and its inspired by the headaches Sandiford experiences in real life, she says. Itâ€s obstacles like headaches, and dyslexia that Sandiford has lived with, but keeps private and doesnâ€t let get in the way of her work as an artist and publicist.

 â€œHeadache is my visual representation of the headaches I get,” Sandiford says. “Iâ€m also dyslexic. These are elements of me that people donâ€t know about. The reality is that I have real things Iâ€m dealing with that in many ways, the part of me that wants to be powerful, is taking steps to overcome.”

Headache by Theda Sandiford

A Jersey City resident, Sandiford has an exceptionally large piece, a digital photograph she took which she had transferred onto a huge drape of material. The piece is a dramatic showpiece that viewers canâ€t help notice as soon as they enter A Condoâ€s lobby. Sandiford says she got the inspiration for the piece while riding the bus.

“I was riding the No. 123 bus from Jersey City to Manhattan,” Sandiford says. “A graffiti tag was on the window of the bus. I took the photo and then I started to manipulate that image.”

Masking Fear by Theda Sandiford

Going back to the meaning of masks, Sandifordâ€s piece Masked Fear represents the mask she wears when she hears nasty gossip. To Sandiford, masks are a necessary part of everyday life. 

“We all wear masks,” Sandiford says. “Masks to pretend, to hide, to celebrate or just to put our best face forward in a selfie. I construct masks for protection. What may start off as an ugly statement, in the end, becomes something beautiful.”

If you go

Showing through July

Fragmented Identity

Theda Sandifordâ€s Solo Show

@ A Condo

389 Washington St, JC

www.thedasandiford.com 

The post THEDA’S SOLO    ‘Fragmented Identity’, Theda Sandiford’s New Solo Show first appeared on River View Observer.