Lock & Key painting by Tamassia Martins
Gallery acrylic on cold-pressed cotton paper
Black & Red Series
“You weren’t supposed to mean that much to me, and I wasn’t supposed to fall in love with you.”
Inspired by a girl I met who swore never to love again, I tried to lift her spirits by painting a two-part piece to try and capture the idea that every locked-up heart has its perfect key. And so, a hope for love. In the first painting, I show a heavy locked-up heart, perhaps a broken one who no longer trusts. Then, in the second painting, I created the key that would eventually unlock the chains and release the heart, empowering it to love again. However, the key has a skull at the end of it. I wanted to create the idea of a rebellious boy falling in love with a broken-hearted girl. He is the key to unlocking her heart, but her being hesitant to believe it to the scary-looking key.
