James Rielly, In Mind, 2003
This in my opinion is a very powerful and memorable image.
It definitely stood out from most of the modern examples of portraiture which I have found in Charlotte Mullins' "Painting People".
What strikes me about it is that the artist has achieved maximum effect with almost minimum use of colour and compositional devices. This type of efficiency is something I strive for in my own images.
It was no surprise to find that most of Rielly's images, including this one are based on photographs. All of his paintings I've seen so far seem cold, still and lifeless, void of emotion. And in all of them the subject of his attention are kids. In our natural and cultural understandings, children represent purity and innocence. We think of them as vulnerable and harmless.
Rielly seems to play with this notion by de-contextualising his subjects. At a first glance everything seems normal. But if you look at some of the details, you are left with an odd feeling. This bizarre interpretation of the child-image also reminds me of Diane Arbus' famous photograph "Child With Toy Hand-Grenade in Central Park".
I find Rielly's stylistic approach very simple, yet interesting. The artist is very abstemious in his use of colour, there are no superfluous nuances. Each of the images I have examined is painted only in four or five colours. I consider the lifeless look of his images, a deliberate demonstration of his aesthetic position.
The image I've posted here is the one I liked the most. It summons up all of my observations.
The disturbing effect comes from the way the eyes of the boy stand out from the rest of the image, as well as the fact that the Mikey Mouse ears are attached to a racing driver's balaclava.
It definitely stood out from most of the modern examples of portraiture which I have found in Charlotte Mullins' "Painting People".
What strikes me about it is that the artist has achieved maximum effect with almost minimum use of colour and compositional devices. This type of efficiency is something I strive for in my own images.
It was no surprise to find that most of Rielly's images, including this one are based on photographs. All of his paintings I've seen so far seem cold, still and lifeless, void of emotion. And in all of them the subject of his attention are kids. In our natural and cultural understandings, children represent purity and innocence. We think of them as vulnerable and harmless.
Rielly seems to play with this notion by de-contextualising his subjects. At a first glance everything seems normal. But if you look at some of the details, you are left with an odd feeling. This bizarre interpretation of the child-image also reminds me of Diane Arbus' famous photograph "Child With Toy Hand-Grenade in Central Park".
I find Rielly's stylistic approach very simple, yet interesting. The artist is very abstemious in his use of colour, there are no superfluous nuances. Each of the images I have examined is painted only in four or five colours. I consider the lifeless look of his images, a deliberate demonstration of his aesthetic position.
The image I've posted here is the one I liked the most. It summons up all of my observations.
The disturbing effect comes from the way the eyes of the boy stand out from the rest of the image, as well as the fact that the Mikey Mouse ears are attached to a racing driver's balaclava.
"Rielly's paintings have always had an uncanny ability to unsettle the viewer...Rielly uses photographs from tabloids, magazines and forensic books as the starting point for his disturbing paintings, removing the context of the image so that what may once seemed acceptable now becomes bizarre, surreal. His style heightens each work's strange effect - faces bleached of colour, like over-exposed photographs, except for the eyes which pierce the viewer with their intensity, unnervingly holding you gaze even as you turn to walk away."
(Painting People:The State of the Art, Thames and Hudson Ltd, London, 2006, p66)
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