My interests as a practitioner mainly consist of photography and illustrative pieces, especially portraits.

I chose a piece made by Chuck Close “self-portrait” I chose this as portraits are relevant to my interests as it is something I really enjoy; Chuck Close is also an artist whom I have admired for many years. I enjoy his work because I find his piece always tell a story within them as he only ever draws friends and family, or himself so he’s always got that connection with his pieces as they are close to his heart and knows them more on a personal level which he may not have had with strangers.

Close, C. (2004). self-portrait. [oil on canvas].

Another artists whose work I really enjoy is Cristina Troufas. I really enjoy her unfinished paintings that she paints onto a coloured background that contrast her work. I like this because it’s different to other work as by giving it the unfinished look especially when it’s the clothes she doesn’t finish it gets you to focus more on the people in the piece allowing a connection between the viewer and artwork.  “The painter uses simple lines and negative space to punctuate her compositions, choosing to highlight the flesh which makes her figures essentially human.” Lesley Frenz, 2012, artsyforager.com.

Troufa, C, (date unknown) pedestal. [Acrylic on canvas]

Platon, (2007) Vladimir Putin, president of Russia. [photography]

Breaking away from the illustrative side I looked into ‘Platon’, a famous photographer. In a previous lecture, we watched a documentary on him and his work and I found him really interesting in the way he works with his models. Platon likes to make sure he has that connection with his model when working with them and by doing this he asks them questions about their life whilst he takes the pictures to show this emotional side otherwise people when looking at his work won’t feel this connection with his pieces, I feel as this quote from his documentary supports my opinion best “taking a picture is very technical, but 99.9% is spent on this connection that allows me to reach someone. And through that connection, there’s just a chance you’re going to feel something too.”  Platon, 2017  , abstract: the art of design.