The painted portrait has been a staple of traditional interior design for many years. Once prominently displayed over fireplace mantles or in grand dining rooms, they fell from their important status as rooms slowly became more and more casual in design. We've run into one artist bringing the painted portrait into the modern world...
Although giving off the appearance of digital pixels, all of Kristine Baerlin's portraiture work is painted by hand. The signature circular pattern seen in her work is her unique modern style. Working with clients to come up with the perfect size and best color combinations, she customizes portraits to fit the style of your home. And with the fresh and modern aesthetic of this art, her pieces are bound to look great in any home, even traditional!
What do you think about this modern portraiture? Let us know!
[Photo credit: Photos from Figment Studio website and newyorksocialdiary.com.]
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Comments (9)
Not so much - I'd rather have Black and White photographs or traditional painted portraits.
Kind of a mix of Warhol, Alex Katz and Chuck close with a digital remake. Not all that original, and likely to fall out of style quickly, but at least technically they're well made. Its always way better than the usual "your portrait in oils based on a photograph".
I too feel like this will soon be dated. I'd rather have a traditional, realistic style, but let the styling cues of the subject, the body language and background modernize it.
Since when are actual works of art dated?
This is sort of cute, but it's dangerously close to "your face immortalized in fruit stickers. "
For a truly beautiful and modern portrait artist please check out this website...
http://www.annmarshallart.com
Perhaps that is what "those kinds of people" like and enjoy living with? Sometimes things are just cultural. That said, I think it's interesting that someone is using a hand-done technique to create something that looks like a computer did it.
I'd like to know what her process is. At first glance I would guess that she takes a photograph and applies digital filters to pixelate the image, then paints it on canvas by hand. I would rather have the digital image printed rather than painted, since the handpainting just adds the cost of labor. The method she uses removes any of the fluidity and liveliness that free-flowing brush strokes convey. Creating something by hand that a computer can produce in seconds seems like a backwards process.
I realize that these things are a matter of taste, but these are not at all a style that I would want in my home.
The best portraiture, in my opinion, takes an ordinary moment and transforms it into something monumental through the techniques of art, lighting, posture, color, etc. (see John Singer Sargeant)
This, on the other hand, reproduces the worst of digital photography. It takes what should be beautiful and transforms it into something even more mundane than the original. Not good.
I don't understand why anyone would go to the painstaking detail of recreating something that could be done in photoshop in five minutes. To my eye, the end result is mediocre art. I much prefer the traditional portrait. For a traditional portrait check out this site;
www.art4hire.com