Assignment 2, Part 2: Painter that Resembles My Own Work....

Elizabeth Peyton

I share Peyton's interest in portraiture. Although she generally works on a small scale, Peyton is able to capture closely rendered depictions of her subjects. She makes a clear effort to make her subjects recognizable to the viewer, but does not resort to photo realism. She leaves her brush strokes visible and allows the paint to take some control with drip marks and layering as seen in her image of Kurt Cobain, 1995. I enjoy working on a larger scale, but I too am interested in depicting the figure in a such a way that they might be recognizable to the viewer in a loose and spontaneous fashion. Although Peyton does not work with mixed media she positions and crops her subjects in such a way that they emphasizes their character. Conceptually, I do not feel I have the same intentions as Peyton. Her images feel straight forward and no more than a depiction of an individual, often a celebrity who has an already established status in society. I am more interested focusing on specific aspects the individual's personality and then bringing that about through symbolism or elements of mixed media. Peyton and I share similar elements of image and process but I am not content with simply a face on the canvas. I want the viewer to understand something, negative or positive, about my subjects and then form their own opinion of that quality.