I've mainly done two types of paintings since graduating from art school ten years ago: conceptual, layered watercolors of several images positioned on one frame, and watercolor portraits.
Portraits have been done for a long long time in painting history. Of course, I am a little concerned that portraits are not always considered relevant to the contemporary art scene. What's fresh about painting a face?
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(c)2003 Josh McCallister
Fah
Watercolor on paper, 15 x 12
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It's not exactly an answer to the question of relevance, but my favorite portraits are often advocacy paintings. I make an image of a person living on the reservation, or in some slum in Brazil or Thailand. These people matter. I want them to be remembered and considered. The viewer has no real relationship to the person being represented. (No mystery that they don't sell!)
Still, I aim for a vibrant quality in the portraits I come up with.
