on portraits

We project so many stories and assumptions and beliefs upon the famous—but what happens beneath the celebrity, when a person is stripped of that context? I’ve been working with portraits to answer this question, translating photographs to capture the essence of someone—what’s alive beneath the public persona—and connecting more directly to their hearts. As I work, I sense the spirit of their courage, their thoughtfulness, their ferocity, their desire, their play. For me, portraiture is less about creating an exact likeness, and more a question of: have I brought forward this person’s spirit, their inherent light?


Prince

Maya Angelou

Madonna

Madonna

Alicia Keys

Georgia O’Keefe

David Bowie

Taylor Swift

Oprah

Agnes Martin

AOC