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Andrew Salgado Deconstructs Identity with Figurative Abstraction

Canadian-born artist Andrew Salgado borrows a variety of influences from art history and popular culture, to paint portraits of deconstructed identities. The people Salgado chooses to portray are complex personalities. Salgado acknowledges this, but does not strive to paint the person's whole identity. Instead, Salgado uses a variety of abstract elements to underline the now-ness during which his subjects were painted.

Canadian-born artist Andrew Salgado borrows a variety of influences from art history and popular culture, to paint portraits of deconstructed identities. The people Salgado chooses to portray are complex personalities. Salgado acknowledges this, but does not strive to paint the person’s whole identity. Instead, Salgado uses a variety of abstract elements to underline the now-ness during which his subjects were painted.

The London-based artist seems to take inspiration from the graffiti in his current home, and uses these street elements to reveal the unfinished hastiness of the human experience. Salgado’s artworks function as jig saw puzzles. One must consider each piece individually before figuring out how each element fits together to make a whole image.

Topics

Andrew Salgado, Figure Painting, Portraiture

buddha, jeff huntington, Portraiture, sergei einstein, street art

July 9, 2015

Annapolis based multimedia artist Jeff Huntington make connections between seemingly opposing images using patterns and emotion. It was his father, the subject of his painting series "Plaques and Tangles" (2010), who first introduced him to oil painting at the age of eight. That particular series was a turning point in the artist's career, when multiple perspectives began creeping into his works. Since then, Huntington has made increasingly layered portrayals of the human condition.

Martine Johanna Paints Pensive Women in Surreal Settings

Female artist, Figure Painting, Martine Johanna, surrealism

October 20, 2015

The women that populate Martine Johanna's world are pensive warriors who occupy a place of tension between powerful command and fragile insecurity; and between upstanding morality and dark cruelty. In many ways, the figural subjects of Johanna's paintings are conflate the complex binaries between which people battle and waver, settle and compromise. While each subject is shown as unique in appearance and mood, they are all united by a distant, thoughtful gaze − a metaphor for the wandering, worrying human mind.

Jennifer Nehrbass’s Oil Paintings Explore Various Personas

jennifer nehrbass, oil painting, Portraiture

June 2, 2014

Jennifer Nehrbass's artworks look like collages at a first glance, but the seemingly cut and pasted images of geological formations, abstract patterns and human characters are actually painted with oils. The artist fits many disparate images and influences into her work. Her narrative paintings plant the viewer alongside female protagonists (most of whom are Nehrbass herself) who are undergoing journeys — adventures through the rocky, American Southwestern terrain as well as journeys of self-discovery. Nehrbass says that she uses herself as a primary subject because her work is a critique of the established art historical and sartorial cannons. Influenced by Cindy Sherman and author Margaret Atwood, she plays with different identities and creates various personas through the elaborate staging of details. Each woman faces a different adventure and must find her own path.

Dylan Andrews’ Charcoal Portraits Play with Shadows

Charcoal, drawing, dylan andrews, portraits, Portraiture

May 22, 2015

England based artist Dylan Andrews uses light and shadow to portray emotion in his drawings. His monochromatic charcoal portraits build up to a dramatic intensity that is almost surreal. Owing to the drama and atmosphere in his pieces is the use of black and white high contrast of tones. Pattern and texture is another aspect of the work that he uses to explore the emotional possibilities. The shadows on his young subjects' extend the reality of the image beyond the page, a reflection from an object we cannot see.

Andrew Salgado Deconstructs Identity with Figurative Abstraction

Jeff Huntington Paints Layered Portraits with Superimposed Images

Martine Johanna Paints Pensive Women in Surreal Settings

Jennifer Nehrbass’s Oil Paintings Explore Various Personas

Dylan Andrews’ Charcoal Portraits Play with Shadows

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