100 Heads Society Portraits

100 heads society is group for artists that meets once a week to do portraits of a live volunteer model. The group was started by Artist Lauren Carlo in 2023. Each session is 3 hours; portraits are done with about 2.5 hours of work time. Through this series I’ve been able to practice working more quickly and decisively, use different materials and techniques, and learn from other local artists.

2020-2024

Just as Sandy (2020)

Nathan Zed (2019)

Clustered (2019)

Aggressive (2018)

Each of the boys depicted in the painting is a fusion of close duos I’d known at the time. I was thinking on the way platonic intimacy between the young men around me was influenced by patriarchy, and how often physical aggression is seen as the default expected way for the them to have physical contact with each other. It’s why “aggressive” is present, despite everything else in the painting leaning towards gentleness and calmness, even the script of the word itself. For many men, being soft with each other is one of the more vulnerable situations they’ll find themselves in- if they allow it to happen at all. That the perspective that their friendships have to be devoid of softness is the starting point that men must choose to unlearn from.

FBG Portrait Series

Acrylic on wood panels. (2017-2019)

The paintings fit together according to the relationships within the group at the time the piece was started. It acts as a snapshot of a dynamic that was destined to- and has- changed.

While I reworked most of the pieces throughout the process, they are listed and presented by the year the majority of the work for each piece was done in: