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      Digital Portraits Reinvent Classical Paintings by Enveloping Subjects in Garments and Masks

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      Art

      #collage
      #digital
      #portraits

      March 24, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “Hidden Perronneau” (2020), photocollage. All images © Volker Hermes, shared with permission
      Nearly a decade before masks became a ubiquitous part of our lives, artist Volker Hermes was fashioning lavish face coverings made of flowers, lace, and ornate baubles. In his ongoing series, Hidden Portraits, Hermes digs into the art historical archive and selects classical paintings that he then reinterprets. Elaborate accessories derived from elements in the original works become tools for obscuring the subjects’ faces, which subsequently draws attention to their garments, gestures, and surroundings.
      Since he began the prescient series, Hermes has based his practice in painting even though he realizes each portrait digitally. Time has given him ample opportunities to delve into the original painters’ backgrounds, periods, and the symbolism of various fashions, an experience bolstered by his costuming work for opera productions.
      Now fluent in historical significance, Hermes continues to parse questions of representation in the works and their current-day implications. “Each era has its own symbols,” he says. “I always like to mention the Chanel costume as a metaphor for today’s upper-class affiliation. There are of course more current, more specific ones, but this garment has something of a general visualization of an established elite.”
      Other emblems—like the big, black hats made from beaver fur that many men don in works from the Dutch Golden Age to signify their rank—are more difficult to recognize today. Hermes says:
      Whoever had such a hat, had himself painted with it. But today we don’t know that anymore. We simply see men with black hats, which no longer trigger anything in us. We look the sitters in the face as our natural approach. If I now exaggerate such a hat in my interventions, blocking the access via the face, the focus changes, the viewer is forced, so to speak, to look at the painting under new aspects, taking into account the meanings that determined the painting at that time.
      From his studio in Düsseldorf, Hermes is preparing new pieces for a group show centered around a theme of clerical representation and pilgrimage, which you can keep up with on Instagram.

      “Hidden Pesne” (2021), photocollage
      “Hidden Larkin” (2020), photocollage
      “Hidden Anonymous (Pourbus)” (2020), photocollage
      “Hidden Cranach III” (2019), photocollage
      “Hidden Liotard VI” (2021), photocollage
      “Hidden Pourbus V” (2019), photocollage

      #collage
      #digital
      #portraits

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      Sublime Renderings of Women and Girls Explore Notions of Beauty in Portraits by Rosso Emerald Crimson

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      Art

      #oil painting
      #painting
      #portraits

      March 19, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “You Better Be Good” (2021), oil on panel, 36 x 36 centimeters. All images © Rosso Emerald Crimson, shared with permission
      In her exquisite portraiture, London-based artist Rosso Emerald Crimson renders female subjects who emerge through a haze of pastels and muted tones. She infuses the dreamy oil paintings with responses to current affairs and questions about the future, which often serve as a catalyst for her projects. “I don’t ‘think’ specifically about political or ethical issues when I paint although my creative flow is undoubtedly fuelled by the impressions and emotions many global events leave subconsciously,” she tells Colossal. Issues of racial justice and the unrealistic portrayal of beauty have both played a role in her recent works, including the compelling portrait of a young Black girl titled “What Are We Waiting For.”
      Generally, the subjects are people Rosso has a relationship with or someone who’s caught her eye, although she’s expanded her purview to models she’s never met as a way to adapt to pandemic restrictions. The artist often depicts the women and girls staring forward with unsmiling expressions. “I am enchanted by the diversity of human beings which is what truly makes us beautiful,” she says.
      If you’re in London, you can see Rosso’s paintings that are part of an exhibition celebrating Women’s History Month at Zebra One Gallery until March 31. She’ll also have pieces on view at Southbank Centre this summer and a solo show at Chrom Art Gallery in November. Prints and originals are available in her shop, and you can see works-in-progress on Instagram.

      “Enchantress” (2020), oil on canvas, 25 x 18 centimeters
      “Oyin” (2020), oil on aluminum, 24 x 18 centimeters
      “Tenderly Layla” (2020), oil on aluminum, 20 x 15 centimeters
      Left: “Flora” (2020), oil on aluminum, 65 x 50 centimeters. Right: “Girl with ginger hair” (2021), oil on canvas panel, 26 x 20 centimeters
      “What Are We Waiting For” (2020), oil on panel, 30 x 27 centimeters
      “Girl in polka dress” (2020), oil and silver leaf on panel, 122 x 85 centimeters

      #oil painting
      #painting
      #portraits

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      Architecture and Bold Geometry Fragment Cubist Portraits by Patrick Oberhi Akpojotor

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      Art

      #architecture
      #cubism
      #identity
      #painting
      #portraits
      #self-portrait

      March 1, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “FELA the Rattle” (2019), acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches. All images © Patrick Oberhi Akpojotor, shared with permission
      In his architectural portraits, Patrick Oberhi Akpojotor visualizes the exchange between humans and their built environments, whether real or imagined. The artist’s spatial body of work, which explicitly contemplates the relationship between interiority and exteriority, is founded in his childhood in Lagos, a city checkered with traditional, colonial, and contemporary structures where he still lives today. “I saw how a former residential area became a commercial one changing how people interacted with that community,” he says.
      Rendered in bold blocks of acrylic, Akpojotor’s paintings encourage introspection as they consider how identities inform the design of single buildings and infrastructure, which in turn shape the people who occupy those spaces. The anthropomorphic structures evoke cubist geometry and illusion, fracturing the body with a staircase, brick chimney, or entire house, and some works shown here, including both “In Memory of the Living” pieces, are self-portraits.
      Beyond his surroundings in Nigeria, Akpojotor derives inspiration from ancient African sculptures and masks, particularly “the way the forms are intentionally distorted to pass messages and symbols of their (beliefs),” he shares. “In my work, the way object(s) are placed does not matter. What is important is that the object(s) are represented, and the message is passed.”
      Find a collection of Akpojotor’s paintings, drawings, and sculptures on his site, in addition to studio shots and glimpses at works-in-progress on Instagram. (via Juxtapoz)

      “In Memory of the Living I” (2019), acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches
      Left: “In my Image” (2020), acrylic on canvas, 96 x 63 inches. Right: “Oga Boss” (2020), acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches
      “Girl with Red Ribbon” (2021), acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches
      Left: “Witness to the times” (2020), acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches. Right: “Time” (2019), acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches
      “In Memory of the Living II” (2019), acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches

      #architecture
      #cubism
      #identity
      #painting
      #portraits
      #self-portrait

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      Mixed-Media Portraits by Nelson Makamo Reflect Childhood Innocence and Wonder

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      Art

      #charcoal
      #Johannesburg
      #kids
      #painting
      #portraits

      February 12, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Nelson Makamo, shared with permission
      Nelson Makamo (previously) is known for his oversized, lively portraits of the children and teens he meets around Johannesburg. Using a distinct blend of acrylic, watercolors, monotypes, silkscreen, and oil paint, the South African artist often delineates their silhouettes with a thick line of charcoal before adding colorful details to their clothing and faces. The resulting works are simultaneously earnest and imbued with a sense of wonder.
      Whether posed or engaged in rowdy activities, many of the subjects sport bright, round glasses, emphasizing Makamo’s focus on viewing the world through the lens of childhood. His subjects “embody the peace and harmony we all strive for in life, the search for eternal joy lies in the child within us all. We are just so consumed with worldly things that we forget the simplicity of life through a child’s perspective,” he says in a statement.
      Makamo recently closed a solo exhibition at Botho Project Space this January, and you can find more of his dynamic pieces on Artsy and Instagram.

      #charcoal
      #Johannesburg
      #kids
      #painting
      #portraits

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      Pockets of Landscapes and Still Lifes Adorn Subjects in Lavish Portraits by Aniela Sobieski

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      Art

      #dogs
      #fashion
      #makeup
      #painting
      #portraits
      #surreal

      February 11, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      Oil on panel, 8 x 10 inches. All images © Aniela Sobieski, shared with permission
      Aniela Sobieski is intrigued by “the human impulse to self-decorate,” a fascination that permeates every aspect of her portraiture. Evoking both baroque paintings and contemporary fashions, Sobieski adorns women and the occasional dog with elaborate makeup and sculptural accessories placed conspicuously to mask the subject’s features. She seamlessly maps classic still lifes and sparse landscapes directly onto the sitter’s face, often highlighting the natural shape of the eye and coating the figure’s lips in bold red.
      Apparent within Sobieski’s oil paintings is a symbiotic relationship between the subject and their lavish accessories: while a pair of daisies or bucolic scene serve as expressions of identity and emotion, the subject “provides them with an environment,” the artist writes. “It is my hope that these relationships speak to the tendency for nature and the human psyche to mirror each other.”
      Sobieski, who is based in St. Paul, has a solo show at Tory Folliard Gallery in Milwaukee that’s slated for this October. Until then, follow her poetic artworks on Instagram, and pick up a print from Etsy. (via This Isn’t Happiness)

      “Bird Eyes,” oil on panel, 6 x 6 inches

      “Daisy Eyes,” oil on linen, 8 x 10 inches

      #dogs
      #fashion
      #makeup
      #painting
      #portraits
      #surreal

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      Bold, Striking Portraits by Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe Render Expressive Subjects in Shades of Gray

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      Art

      #oil painting
      #painting
      #portraits

      January 13, 2021
      Grace Ebert

      “Red Bandana on Green Suit” (2020), oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches. All images © Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe courtesy of Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, shared with permission
      Set against bold, impasto backdrops, Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe’s portraits emphasize the subjects’ spirits, their emotional states and idiosyncracies conveyed through facial expression, gesture, and garments—striped suits, wide-brimmed hats, and bright red bandanas tied around their necks. He renders figures in shades of gray, painting distinctive artworks that embrace the multitudes of Black life through striking and powerful depictions. The goal, the Ghanaian artist (previously) said in an interview with Juxtapoz, is “to capture what they want to say but cannot say in just one image. So that when you see the figure or the painting, you wonder who the person is.”
      Quaicoe’s next solo show will run from April to May 2021 at Roberts Projects in Los Angeles. Until then, see more of his vibrant portraits on Artsy and Instagram.

      “Wilde Wilde West” (2020), oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inches
      “Lady in Sunglasses” (2020), oil on canvas, 24 x 18 inches
      “Glare” (2020), oil on canvas, 36 x 36 inches
      Left: “DOPE” (2020), oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches. Right: “Green Wall” (2020), oil on canvas, 40 x 30 inches
      “Observing” (2020), oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches
      “Wiyaala” (2020), oil on canvas, 30 x 24 inches
      “Bandana Cowboy” (2020), oil on canvas, 48 x 36 inches

      #oil painting
      #painting
      #portraits

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      Subversive and Grandiose, Kajahl’s Vivid Portraits Supplant Historical Narratives

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      Art

      #oil painting
      #painting
      #portraits

      November 20, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      “Silent Incantation II” (2020), oil on canvas over panel, 38 x 33 inches. All images © Kajahl, shared with permission
      Through his meticulously rendered portraits, Santa Cruz-born artist Kajahl subverts the tradition of Blackamoor—a highly stylized European aesthetic that visualized people of color, particularly African men, in exoticized forms and subservient roles—by instead depicting Black subjects in valorized positions. Part of a series titled Royal Specter, the vivid paintings center alchemists, scholars, astronomers, and various intellectual figures within grandiose and luxurious settings.
      While the artist’s works evoke the racist sculpture and decorative pieces of Blackamoor, they remove the historical context and alter the original narrative through anachronistic details. Each oil painting is layered with imagined elements, from the inaccuracies of the source material to Kajahl’s portrayals of fictional characters. “My fantasy is gazing back at their fantasy. I am their fantasy and they are mine… I am the specter of their imagination,” he says.
      Kajahl’s work currently is on view at Chicago’s Monique Meloche Gallery through December 19. You can keep up with his historically subversive projects on Instagram.

      “Alchemist” (2020), oil on canvas over panel, 36 x 48 inches
      Left: “Huntress Eclipse” (2020), oil on canvas over panel, 60 x 48 inches. Right: “Tigress Guardian In Palmtree Oasis” (2020), oil on canvas over panel, 60 x 48 inches
      “Star Gazer In Solitude” (2020), oil on canvas over panel, 72 x 54 inches
      “Huntress In Oasis (Astride A Crocodile)” (2020), oil on canvas, 66 x 84 inches
      Left: “Moment of Contemplation (Scholar)” ( 2020), oil on canvas over panel, 48 x 36 inches. Right: “Oracle (Holding Mirror)” (2020), oil on canvas over panel, 48 x 36 inches
      “Silent Incantation I” (2020), oil on canvas over panel, 38 x 33 inches
      “Oracle Snake In Globe” (2020), oil on linen over panel, 48 x 36 inches

      #oil painting
      #painting
      #portraits

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      Monochromatic Illustrations Personify the Power of the Sun and Moon through Fictional Deities

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      Art
      Illustration

      #drawing
      #portraits

      October 18, 2020
      Grace Ebert

      All images © Sara Golish, shared with permission
      In her ethereal portraits, Toronto-based artist Sara Golish (previously) renders lavishly adorned goddesses and gods that exude a sense of power and wisdom. The charcoal, conté, and ink drawings are part of two ongoing collections, titled Sundust and Moondust, that imagine a series of fictional deities. Each figure belongs to one of the celestial bodies, a correlation that the artist visualizes through the paper’s color, with a warmer beige for the sun and a cool gray for the moon. “I chose to keep them monochromatic so they could be imagined in any skin tone to each individual viewer’s liking—an ease to envision themselves,” the artist says.
      In recent months, Golish has been working on commissions and new bodies of work across mediums, which you can follow on Instagram. To add one of the mythical portraits to your collection, see what’s available in her shop.

      #drawing
      #portraits

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