John Kirby Talking to a Stranger, 1996

Talking to a Stranger was created by painter John Kirby with master printer Pete Kosowicz of Thumbprint Editions. Kirby's characters are often described as sublimated self-portraits: whether depicted alone or in disquieting tableaux with a counterpart, they illustrate the conditions of isolation, loneliness, and repressed emotions. In works that feature multiple characters he often uses imagery such as doppelgängers, surreal miniature characters, puppets, and ghost-like children that look as if they belong in the past, often with an uncanny resemblance to the adults that they accompany. These works render Kirby’s feeling of possessing a divided self; for example Talking to a Stranger, which depicts two almost identical faces in profile under the moonlight, creating a paradox with the title of the work.