"I am fascinated by the complex nature of love, at once a source of pleasure and pain. There is the ecstasy felt by the chosen beloved or ardent admirer. Love’s fleeting nature however, also highlights the despairs of the forsaken, unnoticed and forgotten lovers, often symbolized by physically visible wounds.

 

The surreal aspect of an isolated lover’s eye attracts me tremendously—the idea of physical dismemberment which is symbolic of a removal or estrangement of a loved one, not unlike the reliquaries of saints in old devotional images. It reminds me of the Mexican ‘milagros’ – little charms of different body parts used to aid in praying for the healing of broken arms or hearts, or even eyes. Compositionally speaking, the framed ornamental eye gives context and a reason for a floating third or fourth eye in a painting. It is a device of conceit: a portrait within a portrait.

 

Love tokens such as cupid’s arrow, the billet doux or the lover’s eye are symbolic of the figure represented and the absent figure―the object/source of affection/heartbreak."  - Fatima Ronquillo