ARTIST STATEMENT:
The idea of painting a portrait has had a deep and long-standing hold on me
throughout my career. Portraiture can of course be used to represent the “self” or it can
be used to describe the “other”. For me, both of these modes of representation are
such useful vehicles for discovering more, not only about myself, or another, but of a
more general force at work. The force I sometimes see in a face may be best described
as someone’s “life force”. I choose to use painting as a means of looking past the
surface that photography so often inadequately captures. When I am looking at myself
or another as I work, I am hoping to translate into that piece something of the inner
energy I witness there and often feel strongly when I look both at and within.
I have moved from more classical modes of portraiture to more radical ways for me to
attempt to find a way to describe this force of life I see in myself and others. I began
using stark black-and-white silhouettes of people to express the often startling way we
can recognize someone or something about someone, with almost no detail. I have
begun more recently to use saturated monochromatic colors to help locate what I am
feeling toward my subject. One of my favorite painters, who, like myself is Czech-born,
said about the use of color, “The color is the psychological force, the color is the visible
soul.” I feel these words resonate so closely with how I see the colors starting to
emerge in my portraits. The silhouette portrait has become an ongoing project for me,
and it really works to reflect the time and atmosphere I inhabit. It has been an amazing
way for me to engage emotionally and technically to examine those figures who hold
great meaning for me, and even for others.
I painted Amanda Gorman shortly after she recited her inauguration poem for President
Biden in early 2021. I was deeply captivated by her performance, her energy, her youth,
and her wisdom and felt so compelled to try to translate the hope she had given to me
as she spoke. Gorman’s was the first silhouette I made in color, and it felt so right to
me. After the election, and during the long, and often painful pandemic that separated
me from my homeland, I started to focus on my Czech roots, and many paintings
emerged, often surprising me with their intensity and scale. Watching Amanda Gorman
express herself inspired such strong expression within me, and perhaps that cycle of
bearing witness is the force that keeps us all alive, both physically and importantly,
emotionally.
Website
http://hanashannon.net
