Bryan Charnley was a British painter whose brilliance was shadowed by schizophrenia. Born in 1949, he discovered art young, but in his late teens, his mind began to fracture. Diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, he fought to express the chaos within through his canvases.
For years he painted flowers and familiar scenes, but soon turned the brush inward, painting self‑portraits that laid bare his fears and fractured thoughts. In 1991, he began a series of 17 self‑portraits, most with diary entries revealing the creeping loss of his grip on reality. His eyes blurred, mouths twisted, strange symbols circled his face. Each piece was a confession in color.

By the final paintings, his features were gone—his own reflection a stranger. Ten days after the last unrecognizable portrait, Bryan ended his life.
His work remains as his last cry to the world: that behind the illness was a man who fought to be seen, and to hold on to himself, until he no longer could.

Song Lyrics:

[Verse]  
Canvas bears my name in oil  
Dust and pigment guard my toil  
Lines run thin where light once shone  
Shadows claim the form I’ve known  
Brush trembles on the fading skin  
Color weeps for what has been  

[Pre- Chorus]  
Faces twist
as seasons wane,   
Memories wash,  
in secret rain
Whispers break the frame
I call your name.  

[Chorus]  
Portrait fades before my eyes  
Brushstrokes drown in whispered lies  
Smiling shape dissolves in time  
Leaving only empty lines  

[Verse 2]  
Eyes that held a thousand dreams  
Ghostly glaze now strips the seams  
Canvas creaks beneath the weight  
Of remembrance and of fate  
Paint retreats like tidal streams  
Leaving echoes of extremes  

[Pre-Chorus]  
Contours blur, the edges flow  
Harmony , edges flow…  
Secrets lie where light won’t go  
Harmony , light won’t go…  
Haunting hue of undertow  
undertow…  

[Chorus 2]  
Portrait fades before my eyes  
Brushstrokes drown in whispered lies  
Smiling shape dissolves in time  
Leaving only empty lines  

[Bridge) 
Hands that painted hope so bright  
Watch the color steal the light  
Who remains when lines unwind?  

Who am I !?

(Chorus 3)
Portrait fades before my eyes  
Brushstrokes drown in whispered lies  
Smiling shape dissolves in time  
Leaving only empty lines  
Portrait fades before my eyes  
Brushstrokes drown in whispered lies  
Smiling shape dissolves in time  
Leaving only empty lines

Bryan's Empty Lines

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