Amplified: A Junior Self-Portrait Illustration by Dean Rossi (2011)

My self portrait illustration is of a speaker system. It's creating both beautiful and terrible sounds in a crazy mix of absolute chaos. The illustration contains several references to music theory to convey this point. There is a blue bass clef on the left side, as well as an orange treble clef at the top which is supposed to convey beautiful sounds. However, there is also a green tenor clef at the bottom going through the speaker system, spewing horrible sounds. This is an inside joke that refers to how very few people can read tenor clef sheet music. There are also letters on the circles toward the outside of the illustration. The inner letters represent major scales, which have a cheerful sound. The outer letters represent relative minor keys, which have a dark tone. The speaker relates to me because I am an honest, but can be too honest, often hurting other people. Speakers don't know the difference between the good and the bad, so they blast everything, such as myself.