Painting Oliver’s portrait
Portraits
For about as long as I can remember I’ve been making self-portraits. Painting myself or a friend, these pieces have a draw to the inner life for me. I’m thinking about how I represent myself or how I recognize another human being. The individual portrait is as much of study of an internal lens as it is studying the surface of someone’s face. I’m acutely aware of persona and I want to represent that inner life quality with paint. In some way, the self portraits were explicit ways I could observe the direction I was heading in the world. Portraits of other people are meditations on the parts of them that have rubbed off on my inner life.
The portrait of Oliver was done from life over about 35 hours. The sessions were 3-4 hours, and they usually started off with a conversation. We’d take a break to get coffee or food, and I'd play a podcast or some music. At some point though, it would become quiet, and while we were in each other’s company it was also solitary work for each of us. I care about representing people truthfully, and it’s part of who I am that wants the individual I’m depicting to shine. There is a genuine interaction I’m looking to have, to glimpse what is wonderful about someone. I seek to express the depth of that encounter with paint.
Painting the Burton
Porches
I’m compelled to paint people. As an observational painter, it fits well that I would find myself encountering people on a porch. Rather than being strictly about a place inhabited by figures, a family or group portrait makes the connection between the figures the primary subject. It creates markers of relationship, and a viewer who is familiar with the people will tell the story from the point in time when the painting was created. I view the family portrait as a chance to create a world, a composition that is reflective of the members. Leading with an interview, I find out stories and specific aspects which are important to each member of the family. I create a painting composed of memories, aspects of identity through symbolism, expressions of love, and life’s enjoyment.
Spanning 8 years, my porch paintings reflect significant chapters in my life through stylistic changes. As a social space the porch seems a place that connects the private and public, and as a relatively informal setting of habitual leisure I’ve found myself capturing it through sheer pleasure or community programming. The group portraits are commissions, but they were also integral to my social life in the places I’ve lived. These paintings and their contexts allowed me space to freely develop my conceptual approach to painting. I’m not looking to repeat any one of them stylistically, but I am looking for similar spaces to create engagement between people and my practice.
