Head 

Here we see "Head" by Eileen Agar, an intriguing drawing with no specific date attached to it. The dominant visual experience is its playful disruption of form, blending figuration with abstraction. Agar uses a limited palette of blacks, greens, reds and yellows, to construct what might be understood as a profile. However, this image deconstructs our expectations of portraiture through an array of shapes and patterns. Swirls and geometric forms are used to suggest facial features. The shapes function semiotically, acting as signs that only vaguely resemble conventional anatomy. It challenges fixed meanings, inviting viewers to engage in an active process of interpretation. Agar destabilizes the traditional idea of the portrait by presenting the head not as a static representation but as a dynamic field of visual signs. The semiotic structure invites an ongoing interpretation, acknowledging that the meaning is not fixed but always in flux.