Deception and Disappointment

Deception and Disappointment

The work depicts a figure with two heads emerging from a single body. Both sides belong to the same person, yet they appear completely different. The left side looks rebellious and somewhat worn, with a piercing, dark makeup, green hair, and snakes woven into the hair. The right side, by contrast, appears young, beautiful and almost fairytalelike, with goldenblonde hair. She represents the sweet, seductive side of the person.
Both figures hold the same rose, which meets abstractly in the center of the painting. The almost symmetrical composition emphasizes that, despite their differences, the two sides are inseparably connected. Above them floats an orange surrounded by small lemons, oranges and kiwis. Its radiating lines make it resemble a sun. The orange sun can symbolize a shift in perspective: when something is seen “in a different light,” hidden aspects can suddenly become visible or appear entirely different. The snake symbolizes temptation, seduction and danger, but its placement in the hair can also evoke Medusa. This raises the question of whether the darker side may have been shaped by what happened to her. The rose, on the other hand, represents beauty, love and seduction, while its thorns also carry the potential to hurt, once again connecting beauty with danger.

At the heart of the work are deception and disappointment. The beautiful, seemingly harmless side uses her sweet appearance to deceive the viewer and conceal the darker side. Yet deception eventually reveals itself. Under UV light, the otherwise subtle symbols (particularly the snakes, rose and orange) suddenly become much more prominent. What was hidden in ordinary light can no longer be ignored.
The two faces are not two different people, but two sides of the same personality. The work therefore questions how much of what we show others reflects our true selves. Perhaps what we perceive as evil is not always visible at first glance, and what appears beautiful and harmless may be hiding something darker beneath the surface.