Although my paintings have a range of styles and content, I am essentially a portrait painter. As a natural extension of public opinion research (my first act) portrait painting is digging deep into the essence of the subject. For me, it’s impossible to render a powerful portrait without connecting with the subject on the level of consciousness. As my teacher Ben Long said, “if you study your subject and don’t feel awe, then don’t even try to paint them; put the canvas away.”
Oddly, this necessity is required for real, and even made-up subjects. There has to be a bedrock connection, a negotiation of sorts with the idea so that its identity can ultimately be sensed by the viewer. The painting ‘negotiation’ is easy: does this mark move us closer to or further away from the feeling of the subject? And all along the way, the portrait painter is feeling the subject’s soul … actually dancing around with that singular, individualized consciousness, and accumulating individualized marks to tell the story.
“The Game” is a painting I had been pondering for quite a while. The biggest uncertainty was around what it would feel like to actually paint this guy. Finally, a few months ago I painted the portrait with a swirly, fiery background. But I knew it wasn’t finished. The painting represented the man, in his famous Mug Shot persona, but it lacked something essential … it lacked layers and layers of post truth movement. It lacked the fluidity of actions and reactions, spinning around infinitely, drawing us in as the energy keeps pulsing. His portrait makes sense only within the context of his game. Without the Game — without the ever-amplified movement it stirs — it’s just a painting of an angry old guy with weird hair.
Having painted the persona and attempted the game, I can tell you this: the Portrait-Painting-Trump enterprise is one interesting journey! signed: a happy old gal with weird hair
