Unmasking Love
I find myself on the frontier, sick and angry at the heart and love.
This collection traces the difficult unmasking of love — from protective fatherhood born in illness and fear, through reconnection and teasing hope, to the vulnerable moment of finally dropping the masks. It includes the push from my daughters to message Kara, her playful resistance, and the pivotal moment she visited after the first Venus painting and forced me to show myself. She said she would do the same if I did.
These works move from fragility and hidden anger toward the possibility of love without armor.
The mask of: The man learning to love without hiding.
Dark yet hopeful.
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Heart Failure ( Isa Aiken ) Carbon pencil, blackening watercolours, and inks on paper mounted to canvas · 20
This diptych holds the protective love of a father facing his own mortality. On one side, my daughter Isa is wrapped in the shape of my failing heart — still trying to shield her even as the poison from 9/11 continues its slow work. On the other side is the ache of romantic love and its losses. The blackening layers trace years of carrying both kinds of love. Here the mask is one of strength — the father who refuses to let his children see how afraid he is.
The mask of: The father who loves through fear and fragility.
Soul ( Josie Aiken ) Carbon pencil, blackening watercolours, and inks on paper mounted to canvas · 20
Peitho the Tease ( Kara Aiken ) Carbon pencil, blackening watercolours, and inks on paper mounted to canvas · 20
The first spark of reconnection. Peitho, goddess of persuasion and seduction, appears here as the playful, teasing energy of early messages with Kara. She does not give easily. The blackening layers swirl around the figure like hesitation and flirtation. This is the moment my daughters encouraged me to reach out — and Kara answered with a tease instead of a door.
The mask of: The man learning to step forward again, afraid of what is offered
A quiet portrait of my daughter Josie, her face turned slightly inward, soft and unguarded. The blackening layers begin gently at the edges, as if the weight of the world is only starting to reach her. This painting holds the tender hope that my children might carry something good of me forward, even if I cannot. It is love without demand — the wish that my soul might live on through hers.
The mask of: The father hoping to leave light instead of shadow.
Venus Carbon pencil, blackening watercolours, and inks on paper mounted to canvas · 20
The first Venus painting marks the real beginning of hope. After my daughters pushed me to message Kara again and she finally responded with teasing resistance, this work captures the nervous electricity of possibility, during her first visit to Calgary. The blackening layers are present but lighter here — the poison of the past still visible, yet something new and tender is trying to emerge, unmasked love.
The mask of: The man daring to hope for love again.
Venus Carbon pencil, blackening watercolours, and inks on paper mounted to canvas · 20
Kara came to visit after the first Venus painting and stayed. In this work she is Venus again and doesn’t look directly at the viewer — no longer just an image, but real true beauty and presence. She forced me to tell her the truth: that I had been hiding myself from her and from everyone. To stop pushing her away. The blackening layers begin to peel away. This is the moment she said she would show herself if I did. The mask of hiding finally starts to fall.
The mask of: The man learning to be seen.
Virgin and Child Carbon pencil, blackening watercolours, and inks on paper mounted to canvas · 20
A reimagined sacred image — not divine, but deeply human. Here the Virgin lifts the child in pride and hope, “Lioness” style. It is fatherhood after the unmasking: the wish to protect, to endure, and to pass on something better for all my family. Painted after Kara and my first child, it carries the quiet redemption of being met when I finally showed myself, and that my daughters see around my masks, that a wonderful women loves this broken painter, as he is, and I her.
The mask of: The father and lover who chooses to stay unmasked.
Thank you for experiencing these works.
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Next Collection →
Dark yet hopeful.
Studio visits, or related works: blairaiken@raincage.com
Dark yet hopeful.