In September 2012, at the beginning of my month-long stay in Gloucester, MA, I talked to local artists in the oldest working art colony in the United States, and encouraged them to bring me their paintings that they no longer wanted. By repainting other people's work that would have normally been thrown away, I was trying to investigate the idea of recycling and its possibilities in painting. All of these portraits depict random subway commuters in NYC and are named after the donors of the canvases. Some of them carry texts which challenge the viewer to think about their subjects.
Christhian Diaz, oil on canvas, 112 x 73 cm
Yhanna Coffin, mixed media on canvas, 131 x 139 cm
Doug Anderson, wax, oil on canvas, 92 x 61 cm
Ruth Mordecai, oil on canvas, 163 x 121 cm
Anna Vojtech, oil on canvas, 163 x 121 cm
Kathleen Gerdon Archer, acrylic, oil on canvas, 121 x 91 cm
Martha Swanson, oil on paper, 77 x 58 cm
EJ Lefavour, acrylic, oil on canvas , 71 x 55 cm