Stunning monochromatic realistic contemporary figurative nude portrait painting by Sullivan Giles.
Size 40 x 30 inches. Oil on canvas. Offered unframed.
The figures Giles depicts are often self-portraits and people from her life, many from the “sub” and “deviant” cultures she relates to, mainly punk and tattoo culture. The figures are confident, vulnerable, delicate, bold, intimate, and universal. Painting is a platform she uses to examine emotional honesty and radical vulnerability as a strength in herself and others.
"Mark-making is a constant in my life: on skin, paper, and canvas. Marks on flesh (scars, tattoos, wrinkles) often reflect an individual's psychology (confident, defiant, unsure, shielded) and mirror the language of visual art (delicate, violent, corrective, transparent). I am fascinated by the ways we represent and express bodily autonomy and how our experiences can inform our visual and emotional identity.
Through unapologetic self-portraiture, I show my body as an altar where I tally the events and passions of my life and pay homage to my experiences. These recurring themes of flesh and decorative patterns refer to psychic armor, self-ornamentation, and protective talismans. Painting is how I explore the ways life marks, mars, builds, and breaks us." - Sullivan Giles
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