A few years ago I discovered that most museums offer the ability to download and use photos of their many artworks. Each of these artworks are in the public domain and can be used without any restrictions, except that some museums require attribution for the museum. I then began exploring and experimenting with this idea. The artworks in this series are the result of that exploration.

After Image is a series of reimagined portraits drawn from public‑domain artworks. Each piece begins with a historical source and is transformed through contemporary geometry, constructed space, and controlled abstraction. The goal is not to recreate the original, but to acknowledge it—treating lineage as a visible, intentional part of the work rather than something hidden or implied.

The selection of each underlying artwork is intuitive and deliberate. A piece is chosen only when it carries a quality—gesture, posture, tension, or quietness—that signals it will lend itself to reimagining. If the original resists, it is set aside. If it offers ease, it becomes part of the series. This intuitive compatibility is essential to the process and shapes the coherence of the archive.

The series follows a consistent structure: each artwork is paired with its source information, presented clearly and without interpretation. This transparency is central to the project. The originals remain intact in their respective collections, while the new works exist as independent objects—artifacts shaped by a different century, a different medium, and a different visual logic.

Across the series, the figures are relocated into new spatial frameworks defined by sharp planes, ritual surfaces, and shifts in composition. These interventions move the portraits away from their historical settings and into a more abstract, symbolic register. The result is a set of images that feel both familiar and newly charged, carrying forward the presence of the original sitters while placing them in a contemporary visual language.

After Image is not an act of preservation but of transformation. By foregrounding the source lineage and presenting each remix with minimal commentary, the series invites viewers to consider what remains, what changes, and what emerges when an image is carried across time. The works stand as independent objects, yet each one acknowledges the artwork that made its existence possible.