Elli VIII

"My work is a celebration of the unique identities that pepper our contemporary society. I was trained to paint portraits with a very classic approach, the emphasis being on composition, technical skills, and achieving a strong likeness. However, through the development of my own voice as an artist, I've come to use portraits as a means of forming relationships with and connecting to the individuals that I paint. My portraits are rendered realistically, but also stylized in direct relation to my model, each time striving to best represent the model's unique attributes.

I typically gravitate towards people who are very outwardly expressive either through hair, makeup, jewelry, etc as my inspiration because it provides such a range of areas to emphasize and craft with, visually setting my work apart from most classical portraiture. My pieces tend to be small and intimate, connecting the viewer with the subject. One repeating element that I have been utilizing in my recent "saints" series is the use of religious iconography to emphasize a reverence towards the individual being painted, and to honor the vulnerability shared with the artist by the model."