Awareness: Paul Wright

Wright is a painter of 15 years, focusing primarily on the oil painting of faces. In his artist statement he says that he wants to develop a “painterly language.” Instead of accurately depicting his subjects in a realism-lied mannor, Wright seeks to establish a “likenes” of the subject. His exact words are “they are glimpsed rather than exposed, their inner selves hinted at but ultimately inscrutable.” While to me he seems a bit overly confident in his own work, I am definitely do appreciate the intense use of color and stroke in his depiction of faces. After painting the face in a boisterous way, he then further abstracts it by smearing certain parts of using a palette knife. I can learn from Wright’s technique in class by incorporating super defined and interesting marks as well as his bold composition.