Masking

January 2026 - Present

Acrylic surface paintings by Emma Rarick

These paintings comment on the idea of the accessibility of surfaces and the concept of masking neurodiverse traits.

I chose to draw a donut on a bagel. The surface and my documentation strategy of photographing it in it’s natural environment helps my drawing’s donut qualities feel more real. In this case, the surface holds almost the entire concept of my artwork. If I drew a donut on a piece of paper, it wouldn’t feel like the bagel is masking all his great bagel qualities to fit in as a more desired food like a donut. This drawing on a piece of paper would just be a donut. The surface being a real bagel is what ultimately makes the viewer curious about what they’re looking at.

I drew a jam jar on a ceramic pot, and placed it in a kitchen. Again this is a scenario where the pot masks as a more desired jam jar in order to fit in, but by doing so it assumes there is no great qualities in being its truest version of itself as a pot. When I use these canvases that feel more readily accessible in new ways, I feel it allows viewers to reencounter my artwork concept again someday in their everyday life. And instead of talking about disability activism one time in a gallery space, viewers might find themselves thinking about their daily participation in the disability activism space as they continue to encounter more readily available canvases like the bagel or a pot too.