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Heart Failure ( Isa Aiken ) Diptych: [ 60” x 44” panels ]· Carbon pencil and blackening watercolors made from captured industrial carbon, with inks on paper mounted to canvas · [ 2018–2025 ]
The many masks of the heart, and the realities of love.
This diptych explores the fierce protectiveness of fatherhood and the ache of romantic love, both shaped by long-term pain. The left panel shows my daughter Isa wrapped in the form of my failing heart from the consequences of 9/11. The right panel holds romantic love born from years of layered suffering and hope.
In the black-and-white panel, an idealized sculptural figure represents romantic love. This work carries all the love and loss a man can hold — and the quiet possibility of healing that remains even after the masks have fallen.
Studio view, or related works: blairaiken@raincage.com
Inspiration & Personal Connection
This painting draws inspiration from Geertgen tot Sint Jans’ *The Glorification of the Virgin* (c. 1490–1495). I reimagined the sacred composition as a diptych — as it originally was before the other side was lost — a detail that felt especially powerful to me. The "mask of the heart" refers to the emotional, protective, or social defenses individuals develop to hide their true feelings, vulnerabilities, and authentic self, particularly to avoid pain, rejection, or judgment. These masks act as a "shield" or armor for the heart, enabling people to navigate difficult situations or interpersonal relationships by presenting a different persona than what they actually feel.
On one side, the fabric is shaped like a heart, my heart wrapped around my child in fierce, protective love. On the other side is the love and loss that exists between me and my hope of love beyond family. My first child, Isa, holds my symbol — the skull — in the same tender way the Virgin holds Jesus.
The painting was begun in quiet hope for healing, before I fully understood I was facing my second major health battle after 9/11: heart failure. At the time, the girls’ mother and I were no longer together, and she did not allow me to tell the children I was sick, and took them to live in Europe. This work became my private way forward — a silent prayer when words were not permitted.
At its core, this piece expresses all the love and loss a man can carry. Through this reversed sacred image, it remains a deeply personal prayer for redemption and healing.
Studio view, or related works: blairaiken@raincage.com
Dark yet hopeful.
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Geertgen tot Sint Jans, The Glorification of the Virgin, c. 1490–1495