Idols

Lorencia 12 x 9  2010
Zorella 12 x 9  2010
Kardonia 12 x 9  2010
Livania 10 x 8  2010
Josepha 10 x 8  2010
Parmela 10 x 8  2010

The portrait genre extends from the realistic depiction of an actual person to that of a fictional person to that of a generic portrait representing a particular kind of person or an individual representing specific qualities to any variety of stylized human likenesses.  My idea with this series of pictures was to create paintings resembling statue busts -- idols.  I wanted them to possess an archetypal quality, a static dignity, not an image of a woman, but an image of an image of a goddess-like woman.  By presenting them in symmetric full-face, keeping the eyes closed (it worked better for me than the empty eye approach of classical sculptors), and coloring the skin in cool colors that are never be natural I achieved the effect that I wanted.  These are all small paintings, 10 x 8 to 12 x 9.  I executed a couple larger pictures along the same line, but somehow they seemed less successful.

You may see more of my work on my website at  www.stephenwardeanderson.com
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