What does your work look like?

My work consists of oil paintings, mainly figurative pieces.  That means people, portraits, studies of men and women and their individual psyches, their souls.  My work tries to represent the “real” person inside the skin.  What are they really like?  What KIND of person are they?  I think I am portraying the true person.

Why do you do it?  What is your inspiration?  Where does the impetus for making it come from within you?

I paint because I enjoy making something beautiful and enjoy other peoples reaction to my work. I enjoy creating something from nothing.  I want to show how I can represent the human body, and face, as realistically as possible.  I realize that my forms are not as perfect as can be, but I strive for perfection.  What comes from that may not necessarily be real, but in a way it is.

I also like to portray individuals from a slanted, satirical viewpoint.  My portraits often show some defect, or failure to them.  I guess I want to show human frailty.  What is to be human, no matter how ugly.  My paintings oftentimes show negative feelings towards those people.

Describe your work from different points of view, such as conceptual, thematic, and emotional.

Conceptually, my work could be considered as some sort of psychic portraits.  Perhaps, poking fun at the human condition.  The work is definitely expressive, but also realistic.  Expressive Realism is what it could be labeled.  I try to realistically paint what I see, but also show an unseen underlying personality, maybe conscious or unconscious.

Thematically, you may say that all my work shows the personality of the subject.  I also try to realistically paint them, but they come out a bit skewed.  This is my flaw, but I use it to my advantage.  The images are not perfect and neither are the people being represented.

Emotionally, the paintings are dark and sad, usually having a feeling of negativity.  Maybe they show happy people, but that seldom is the case.  My figures are real people with real problems.  They are angry, sad, or just plain crazy.  Perhaps they have problems, or weren’t brought up correctly.  They don’t know the correct way to fit in.  Maybe they are insane, addicted to drugs or alcohol or just depressed.

(Photo by: Becca Sabot Photography)