Vulnerability in Expression
Artist Statement:
For this two part series, I used a variety of different materials to achieve the effect of mixing painterly aspects with realism. The backgrounds were all done with a warm, neutral grey. These contrast with the 3D elements of flowers and jewelry on top of the finished portraits, which are made with acrylic paint on stretched canvas.
With this series, I wanted to present a predominantly male figure, but add stereo-typically feminine accessories to him in order to make the audience question the gender of the model. I used a mixture of painterly and realistic approaches to these paintings to create further doubt for the viewer. I decided to strip this painting down to its essentials and focus on a vulnerability. I chose this topic again to further the conversation around androgyny and gender identity and the vulnerability faced by people in those communities.
I chose to stay with the same model as my last series to further both of our experiences and our journey through identity. In the photo references I used, my model wore makeup for the first time, which enriched the experience for both of us. By bringing him on as my model for this project again, I was not only educating him on the topic, but helping him on a journey to accepting and discovering himself.
The following are quotes taken from an interview with the model about his thoughts and feelings towards the series:
“I thought at first it would be weird and it may not look good, but once I tried and saw it, I felt like an attractive person. The process of taking the photos felt awkward at first but I warmed up to the idea of expression, I got into it and had fun! Looking at the paintings they make me feel like I can be more open to personally expressing myself in his manor in my everyday life.”
Vulnerability in Expression
Artist Statement:
For this two part series, I used a variety of different materials to achieve the effect of mixing painterly aspects with realism. The backgrounds were all done with a warm, neutral grey. These contrast with the 3D elements of flowers and jewelry on top of the finished portraits, which are made with acrylic paint on stretched canvas.
With this series, I wanted to present a predominantly male figure, but add stereo-typically feminine accessories to him in order to make the audience question the gender of the model. I used a mixture of painterly and realistic approaches to these paintings to create further doubt for the viewer. I decided to strip this painting down to its essentials and focus on a vulnerability. I chose this topic again to further the conversation around androgyny and gender identity and the vulnerability faced by people in those communities.
I chose to stay with the same model as my last series to further both of our experiences and our journey through identity. In the photo references I used, my model wore makeup for the first time, which enriched the experience for both of us. By bringing him on as my model for this project again, I was not only educating him on the topic, but helping him on a journey to accepting and discovering himself.
The following are quotes taken from an interview with the model about his thoughts and feelings towards the series:
“I thought at first it would be weird and it may not look good, but once I tried and saw it, I felt like an attractive person. The process of taking the photos felt awkward at first but I warmed up to the idea of expression, I got into it and had fun! Looking at the paintings they make me feel like I can be more open to personally expressing myself in his manor in my everyday life.”
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Vulnerably Visible
Artist Statement:
My name is Samantha Wigglesworth, I am this year's Artist in Residence with Arts North East. The idea for this show titled, Vulnerably Visible, came from the fact that each person has many different versions of themselves. Some of these sides you are willing to share with everyone, others only to a select few. I feel as though portraiture can be a window into these unseen sides. Through my recent exploration of my own mental health and rediscovering things about me personally, my goal with this series was that I wanted to explore some of the different facets of myself. I wanted to be truly vulnerable and when creating these works and to do so I really had to push myself to be comfortable in the uncomfortable by creating depictions ranging from “Anxiety” and “Sensory” to “Bubbly”. Through the use of only colored lighting I stripped away my base identity and brought forward a new way to emphasise these versions and perceptions of myself. I feel it is important for me to do this as a portrait artist first before I ask my models to show me their vulnerabilities.
I have worked on building many different skills through this body of work, one of which was to get me back into doing my own photography, and who would be a more willing model than yourself. To first photograph vulnerabilities is a difficult thing, even though it was just me in a room by myself. I wanted these works to be as authentic as possible so every expression of negative emotion was true. Photographing these negative emotions was not the hard part however, painting them and sitting with them for approximately the 40 hours each one took me to complete was difficult. Both painting and knowing that these hidden sides of myself will be seen was the most challenging thing, but it felt important to create an honest depiction that others might relate to and see themselves in.
