Jim Singelis describes his images as self-portraits without a mirror, and the complex emotions they represent do embody a singular and personal intensity. The series actually began with one clear and literal self-likeness, and he starts each new painting or drawing by sketching his own reflection. But from there he improvises, and while he observes and reacts the image takes on its own personality, going through many changes, sometimes alternating between male and female or even becoming another species before reaching its final form. Marks documenting the process remain visible; the multilayered, extensively worked surface creates both background and context. The portraits represent not only himself, but also individual characters who have an inner life and relationships of their own in a world whose population continues to expand. He also intends them as self-portraits of a kind for those who look at them, mirrors of emotional states and conditions they know and relate to through the lens of their own experience. Titles are purposely left vague, allowing observers to contribute the narrative or interpret the content for themselves.