This past week I decided to cull through some of my older work, specifically a series called “50 Faces”. It was a series I did for a 2 person show here in Athens that consisted of 50 6×8″ paintings of made up people. The portraits were painted one right after the other via stream-of-consciousness without any reference material using impasto techniques. They are thick, gestural and expressive portraits that were painted while I was living alone on the outskirts of Athens with no neighbors and few friends geographically. The portraits were sort of my surrogate friends and family at the time! I decided to post a few on my Facebook page and one of my past professors from S.F.A.I. responded with some positive comments. There’s nothing in the world like one of your mentors giving you positive feedback. I was pleasantly surprised and it sent a charge through my creative circular system.
I have been pondering the idea of revisiting this approach and incorporating it into my animal work. I think the immediacy, color and texture would have a great effect in my animal work conceptually and artistically. Be on the look out for this experimentation!
below:
“Danny”
oil on canvas
6×8″
sold to private collector in Hong Kong