Finding words for the unwordly

Autopoiesis refers to a system capable of reproducing and maintaining itself. This phenomenon is an apt description of what contemporary is (to me) and refers to an essay by Barry Schwabsky in a monograph of Dana Schutz.

I approached the challenge of making a painting that refers to the outside world but simultaneously refers to itself by looking at portraiture, in the 1800s british sense of the tradition.

Thomas Gainsborough

A critique of portraiture as self-aggrandisement of the sitter (and also painter) and commercial product.
What also draws me to portraiture is I'm interested in figuring out how other people look like. It's a challenge in itself to capture the likeness and personality of a face in paint on canvas.

But . . .
I want to go beyond the image.
I want you to think of not only the process of making a painting but also to think about the nature of recognition.
I want you to consider what a "painting" is and what its function is in the contemporary visual landscape.