[MENTION=3279]Moya Anomalous[/MENTION], The immediate thing that strikes me about your avatar is the way it seems to provoke the theme of "two worlds" in at least two major respects (maybe more will come to me as I dig in).
First of all is the obvious character of the shading. There is the lit area vs the dark area, but the shadow doesn't seem to follow any laws of composition I could imagine. If for no other reason than the light stripe on the right shoulder, I think it's safe to say that the viewer is supposed to think that the depicted individual is staring at something "off-screen," but be unsure of what exactly it might be. The person does not seem to be terrified, but they do not seem to be particularly thrilled either. They are, if anything, completely complacent. Why, then, is there something casting a shadow upon our figure? And why is there another shade of shadow moving diagonally from the left shoulder down when it conflicts in angle from the shadow cast by the head upon the neck? It's possible, I suppose, that the body being submerged in darkness with the head area in light is meant to be a depiction of human nature; the body (the material aspect) contains evils, but the head (the mind/transcendent aspect) allows the overcoming of it. This might explain why the light area is predominately over the area with the heart.
Similar to the imbalance and strange use of light, the photo also screams of a lack of symmetry everywhere but the lit area. All aspects of the light area appear to be looking straight ahead, while he shadowed area seems to be turning to the left (even independently of the collar area, which seems to face head-on). Most interesting, though, is that the area where the shoulders meet the torso are unsymmetrical, though that may also be due to the angle. The difference, though, seems unlikely.
But then there's the head. It confuses me. I cannot decide if it is caucasian or asian, or if it is female or male. Now, the chest of our model clearly demonstrates its masculine nature, but the actual face is incredibly androgynous. The hair is clearly masculine, but it seems to nevertheless radiate a sense of the feminine.
I'm stalling for time, I think. What this picture truly says to me for no apparent reason is "rebirth." The expression is one of complacent innocence, but the figure is clearly adolescent at the youngest. There is a sense of the spiritual with a sense of the physical. This figure seems...too perfect. Just too perfect. Not in the sense that I, myself, idolize it, but that it has some power as a residual self-image. A figure that is both light and dark, both now and then, both male and female; preferring one, but understanding the other. True peace found in balance.
...or maybe it's just some art student's erotic dreamboy. Does the skin sparkle in sunlight?
