What do you paint?
Most of my paintings are of the same little girl, who is a metaphor for time. She’s been a model for my work over the last two years and will continue to be in the future. Her style of dress, hairstyle etc. do not change in the paintings, and I always paint her using the same color palette. Plus, the size of my work remains roughly the same. So as many variables as possible remain constant, except for the model herself because she is a real person, changing as time progresses.
How does painting the same model again and again reflect your mission as an artist?
By painting a model that changes over time, my whole body of work becomes time based. If you look at my paintings across the years, you will see the impact of time on the model and on my personal style. It’s a decades-long commitment on my part.
Can you explain how your portraits display the concept of time?
I don’t paint people. I paint time, which is a universal concept that can only be described through a visual metaphor. I’ve used portraiture to represent the idea of time and in turn have developed my own artistic lexicon.
The figures I use are meant to spark an emotional reaction in the viewer, adding to the meaning of my paintings in a way that cannot be matched by non-figurative or abstract work. I believe that portraiture is the strongest tool in visual work because it relates directly to the human experience.
Your paintings are like portraits... Is that an incorrect observation?
If you insist they are “portraits”, I tell them they are portraits of time, not of people. My work is based on a concept that is in direct opposition to what Marcel Duchamp did 100 years ago when he painted “Nude, Sad Young Man on a Train” (1912). Duchamp used an abstract design to depict a figure. Today, I’m using figurative work to depict what is a non-visual concept.
0 comments