Chosen Masculinity
I want to create a set of portraits that dive into the masculine figures in my life, including myself. In the past I have studied my own image and history through self-portraiture and those discoveries have now inspired me to look deeper into the lives of the people around me through a series of paintings. It has also invited me to explore the wide breadth of forms that can be representational of a portrait while challenging myself to create and complete a multi-painting series for the first time.
These portraits will be a visual representation of each person’s spectrum of personality and authenticity. The initial portrait will display the subject as they present themselves following a more traditional portrait composition. This will include them shirtless and therefore more vulnerable posed like a Classical portrait. The background however will go into the ‘who’ they truly are or how I truly perceive them based on our relationship. This will take the design of a wallpaper, as I want to talk about the ‘walls or exterior expectations people put on in comparison to the person they expose as the relationship grows.
As for the logistics of the project I want to create three portraits for the final project. All of them will be the same size and will consist of myself, my brother, and my father. I want to title the project “Chosen Masculinity” and show their impressions they have made on me as well as an example of who they are. Oil Paint on canvas, each portrait is 16’x24’ and the wallpaper design is designed on procreate prior to the portrait being painted.