the gaze

I thought I should research 'The Gaze' a bit more seeing as from looking at my work it seems to be key to many of my portraits. I think what intrigues me most about eyes and 'the gaze' is not the actual subject but what they are gazing at. Many of the images of people that I choose to paint from are not looking directly at the camera/artist. I find that a lot more personality comes through if the subject is captured in their natural environment, and most of the time that doesn't involve looking square on, straight ahead. If the sitter isn't looking directly at the viewer then it also provokes questions about their surroundings and what it is that has captured their attention. This is the aspect that I find the most interesting - what the sitter is interested in. Jacques Lacan used the phrase 'the gaze' first and sums up my feelings much more elequantly than I can, he is quoted as saying the gaze 'does not belong to the subject but, rather, to the object of the gaze.'