The strain of imaginary realism found in Carrie Pearce’s oil paintings calls upon both 16th-century masters and the drawing style of the children she’s depicting. The artist says she creates “emotional portraits,” rather than just portraits of people. She says her paintings are “aimed to entertain you and convey events real or imagined through images, improvisation and embellishment.”
“The underpinning of my work is the story,” the artist says. “I guess you could say I am a ‘Story Painter of Half-truths.’ I aim to create an image that has never been seen through Imaginary Realism. I enjoy digging stories out of my brain and creating a new world on the plane of two-dimensional panel. Everything has a story, Every person, animal and object came from somewhere and carries its history like a ghost. Perhaps, this is why I am drawn to the haunting, turn of the century photos for my subjects. Where did you come from? What became of you? What do you want to be when you grow up? They rarely answer…”
See more of her work below.