Original artwork description:

This people portrait is intentionally quite poignant as it features an elderly man who seems to be carrying some of his belongings in a plastic shopping bag.
It is not clear if he is unkempt in his crumpled rain coat because he is homeless or has gone beyond caring too much about his appearance.
Either way, he looks sad and almost life-beaten.
I wanted to contrast his sad, beaten, forlorn facial expression, and drooped shoulders and shuffling gait with the excitement of others striding off into the distance, either shoppers hurriedly returning home after a successful day's shopping or employees from these shops doing the same after a hard day's work.
There is also a frission or juxtaposition between the elderly man's crumpled slightly smudged coat and dishevelled appearance and the gleaming reflection-clean floor of the shopping mall and the tidy, orderly professional look of the shops.
The elderly man looks like he doesn't fit in here or even maybe he has no where to go, unlike the others, where he can fit in.
It is as if society has locked him out of what others have and perhaps even take for granted.
He seems lonely, and forlorn on his way to wherever he is going, to wherever he calls home?

Materials used:

oil painting on linen canvas

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