Ezra Pound , graphite, 1997

This was a college assignment to create a famous person portrait from a photograph. I'd never known that the poet Ezra Pound battled all his life with depression until I found this image in a book of portraits and did some research on Mr. Pound.

I chose to frame this work with a plain grey mat to emphasize the mood of the drawing. The image is swimming, almost lost in a much larger frame because that is how one feels during depression. The simple mat and frame draw the eye straight to the wrinkled details in the face.