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Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Sarah Muirhead’s paintings are intimate portraits of people you’d see, come across, everyday on the street but not in the gallery, people that make up the great tapestry of life, make it colourful and different, complex and strange. Her portraits are always sympathetic, she goes deep under the skin to reflect a humanity, a narrative that is as interesting as the subject itself. Infact it’s both the narrative and the image that give Muirhead’s paintings such depth and poignancy.
Muirhead’s paintings are all about detail; breaking up the background in order to intensify the story around her subjects, using simple abstract forms and flat colours to intensify the portrait and utilizing negative space to create energy around the subject. This attention to each individual character, to each story, to finding what makes each person unique and then applying a specific set of criteria to bring the subject to life is key to her work, is what makes Muirhead’s portraits compelling pictures stand above the rest. Is what makes a good portrait artist.
I’m drawn to things which have aged or been altered in some way. Most of my work is figurative, drawing from experiences I’ve had and people I’ve met in my search for interesting characters on the street and in bars. I’m drawn to people I empathise with although I find it difficult to explain why. These tend be strangers; brief encounters which usually pass by unmarked.
I try to recount an ephemeral moment using a process which, by contrast, takes weeks concentrating on textures, patterns and fine details. I have been focusing on peripheral characters, quiet observers, people with whom I find some degree of understanding although this is rarely verbal. Although I’m naturally drawn to faces, I reference details of derelict buildings, posters, graffiti and images of nature I have found or photographed.
I don’t want to make vacuous copies of photographs but to try to recount a moment of empathy between strangers. I want to show vulnerability and to suggest an intimate psychological interaction rather than an honorific or simplistic view of those I have met. I’m interested in the idea that beauty and squalor are seen as being mutually exclusive until their objects are presented in a different context