The Portraitists (Nick Guacheta')

A conversation with Matt Murphy, an English portrait painter currently practicing in Brighton, England. After a childhood fascination with art, and graduating A-Levels, Murphy took a long-term hiatus from his practice. While living in Vietnam, marooned by the Covid Pandemic, Murphy began working with the regionally popular media, water colors. This new media inspired a different process, which carried onto Murphy’s work with oils. Red and gazing, Murphy’s subjects appear through the flowing, loose marks.        

@mattmurphyart

A conversation with Trevor Wisecup, a Virginian photographer currently practicing in New York City, New York. Wisecup grew up with an interest in visual arts, first captivated by the visuals and story-telling of video games. Wisecup’s aesthetic would be developed by a love for vintage artifacts - from VHS tapes, to thrifted suites, to analog cameras. After unintentionally relocating to New York city, a coincidence-of-sorts put the first rolls of film in his hands. Wisecup would continue forward documenting his life and observations with this alchemic media. Wisecup does not consider himself a street photographer, but instead a photographer at broad, recording any and all that he deems valuable - curious scenes from America’s largest public environment, or intimate glimpses from the cabin of a boat. 

@trevorwisecup

A conversation with Aysha Nagieva, a Russian-born artist living and practicing in London, England. Nagieva spent her early girlhood in Moscow, discomforted by the rigidity of the traditional Russian artistic expectation. After transplanting to London, Nagieva’s interest in unfettered expression and fashion design developed into an artistic practice that nods to her Russian roots, while expanding beyond the boundaries of the academy. Nagieva hijacks the motif of the russian doll - transplanting it from its traditional origins into a contemporary and cheeky universe. Playfully, Nagieva breaks all the rules that intimidated her as a girl - and through her body of work an expansive self portrait emerges.     

@aysha.nagieva

A conversation with Tom Mead, a figurative painter practicing in Essex, England. Mead's work explores "the visuals and ideology from childhood including toys, naïvely constructed environments, ambiguous narratives, and an undercurrent of existentialism."

*ref, paraphrased, tommead.co.uk

@tommeadmead

A conversation with Karim B Hamid, a figurative painter who combines tradition and innovation, reminiscent of Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, resulting in a product coined "psychic archaeology".

*ref, megumiogita.com

@hbhamid_art

A conversation with Kuda Mushangi - born Zimbabwe, and raised in England - Mushangi is a figurative artist currently practicing in London, England. Mushangi immigrated to the UK with his family at the age of 9. Now a practicing architect, Mushangi rediscovered his boyhood passion for visual art as an escape from the rigidity of his career and its requirements. Mushangi is a relatively new painter, and his debut project is conjuring and recording the vague and vanishing memories of his early youth in Zimbabwe. Like all childhood memories, Mashangi’s scenes balance innocence, confusion, and disproportionality - all while rendered in a style that nods to a childlike interpretation.        

@kuda.mushangi

A conversation with Austin Hayman, a newly practicing figurative painter, and founding member of rock band Dear Boy. As of January 2024, Hayman is roughly 1 year into exploring his practice of painting, and over a decade invested in his musical endeavor - on the cusp of finishing a second album. 

@austinhayman

@dearboyofficial

A conversation with Juliano Mazzuchini, a Brazilian figurative painter currently practicing in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Mazzuchini, with an extensive background in theater, translates the full-body kineticism of stage acting to the composition of his paintings. Combined with the aesthetic of vintage flash photograph, Mazzuchini's work balances between eerie and familiar.

@mazzuchini

A conversation with Steve Cannon, an Irish figurative artist practicing in Galway, Ireland. Cannon’s work remained steadily focused on human portraiture. Cannon captures his subjects with prying attention - resulting in hyper honest and vulnerable product - described as beginning “[torn apart]”. Cannon’s work has been frequently platformed by the Royal Hibernian Academy and the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. 

@stevecannonartist

A conversation with Cory Swenson-Scott, an American figurative painter practicing in California and abroad. Swenson-Scott received his Master of Fine Art from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, and has collected an expansive series of accolades in the California area, including a repeat annual showcase at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. Swenson-Scott has been awarded various residencies which allow him to practice in destinations such as Sweden, Mexico, and Japan. Both at home, and abroad, Swenson-Scott’s practice involves the identification and representation of those who are not typically portrayed in fine art - which is particularly elevated through the artist's traditional style and application. This includes those of uncommon fashion, social outcasts, and persons who would otherwise not have the opportunity - as is the case in Swenson-Scott’s series of rural Japanese folk. 

A conversation with Raul Sisniega, a Mexican figurative artist currently in residency in Roswell, New Mexico. Sisniega was raised in Mexico City - his parents spurred him to follow a straight and narrow path to white-collardom. Sisneiga’s relationship with his parent’s expectation and his artistic practice faced its reckoning in his mid-twenties, when he decided to drop out of law school and pursue an education in graphic design. This decision was still a concession, and finally, Sisniega’s impulse to create visual art in its purest form percolated forth in the form of wall painting that graffitied his apartment. Sisneiga was able to transition this private practice to a public practice by collecting these images with papers hung on his walls and plastering them to exteriors. This led to a decade spanning career in muralism, or as Sisneiga prefers: large scale illustration. Sisniega eventually cooled his muralism and pivoted to a more traditional practice, in which he’s able to connect directly to his globe-spanning collectors. Sisneiga’s work evokes the fundamental visual languages that threads prehistoric cultures, intersected by the aesthetic of a boy growing up in the 80’s with a Nintendo remote in hand, and exploring the internal angst that has teased him and us all.         

@biosisniega

A conversation with Zboik Czajkowski, a Polish figurative artist that practices between the cities of Berlin, Germany and Warsaw, Poland. Czajkowski is a prominent figure in the street art and graffiti scene - his career taking him from London to Tokyo. Czajkowski’s current practice is balanced between large-scale mural commissions, which he executes with a small team, and that he pursues as an opportunity for travel and social engagement - and his studio practice, where he digests his emotions through the warped portraiture he renders in a signature visual language he’s developed since his youth. 

@zboik 

A conversation with Gina Altadonna, a figurative artist currently practicing in Philadelphia, PA. Altadonna is a multidisciplinary artist, known for her vibrant watercolor and oil paintings. Altadonna uses her practice as a means of both inward and outward dialogue - articulating the experiences of girlhood and womanhood. Unabashedly, Altadonna reclaims the preferences of her youth and broadcasts them in her macabre compositions - depictions of trauma, melancholy, and mortality rendered in candies and ribbons.   

A conversation with James Zamora, a Texan figurative painter currently practicing in Savanna, GA. Zamora is known for his realist still life paintings that span subjects from traditional floral arrangements to images of contemporary mundanity. Zamora also elevates and immortalizes images and icons from his childhood - giving vintage gaming consoles the reverence of a Flemish composition. 

@jameszamora

A conversation with Stelios Pupet, a Greek figurative artist that practices in Athens, Greece. Pupet developed his artistic practice as a young graffiti artist running from the authorities in the Athenian Metro. Pupet retained these foundations as he evolved into his fine art practice. Pupet depicts the human form, often female, often obscured or masked, or tranquil in an urban/suburban gardenscape. Pupet’s recent signature is his style of rendering in bold rigid shapes, capturing a moment as it freezes into 8-bit. 

A conversation with Bobby Leash, a figurative, manga-inspired painter. Leash practices in proximity to Bangkok, Thailand. Leash's work is inspired by the visual grammar he absored as a young comic enthusiast, and now acts a means to tell the stories of his life. His imminent solo exhibition at Joyman Gallery centers around themes of perseverance in the face of surrender.

@bobbyleash

A conversation with Wylee Risso, a figurative painter currently practicing in Portland, OR. Risso’s body of work spans an eclectic assortment of subjects - images untethered by audience-focused theming, but instead images that strike the artist - the refracted lightshow of a dishpit, or a single frame of a cult-classic. Risso translates these images into a signature style characterized by a frenzy of lines that search for supernatural geometry - resulting in a sharp, flat, Euclidean fantasyscape.

@wyleerisso

A conversation with Amy Dury, an English figurative artist currently practicing in Brighton, England. Dury’s art education was detoured in her youth, but through a series of adventures Dury graduated from her preferred Glasgow School of Art with a degree in printmaking. Like many artists, Dury’s art career was suspended by the responsibilities of parenthood and sourcing a stable income, but when Dury saw the opportunity to teach painting at Varndean College in Brighton, England - she reignited her practice with extreme focus. Dury’s foundation in printmaking can be seen in her work as her paintings are rendered with defined blocks, experimental textures, and an overall graphic quality. Dury’s focus on historical photography has spurred her to explore archival video - snapshotting the frames she finds most interesting - straddling the line between photographer and time traveler.  

A conversation with Lada Vinogradova, a student at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Vinogradova is a figurative artist whose recent work has focused on capturing 'the soul' of traditional Russian pastoral life.

*The conversation is translated in real time by fellow artist & peer, Nicolas Olivazzi. The recording begins with roughly 2 minutes of raw translation chatter before editing engages and the conversation becomes common pace.

@vinogradovalada

A conversation with Shannon Purcell, a portrait artist practicing in Austin, Texas. Purcell seeks to create ‘talismanic’, concrete works that have substantial presents. His work explores self-portraiture beyond the self - beyond the attributes of sex, gender, or even the singular body at its most literal. 

@shannonpurcellart

A conversation with Rustam Hasanov, a Russian-American figurative artist currently practicing in Atlanta, GA. Hasanov is a multidisciplinary artist with a career in animation and character design. Inspired to rediscover the artistic passions of his youth - nonreactive to audience or commercialism - Hansanov has refocused on a ritualistic, and non-commodified practice. Hasanov creates rapid expressive gestural figures of his selected models - explore their condition as he emulates his own and merges the two. As a self-described introvert, through this practice, Hasanov seeks to connect. 

@rustamhasanov

A conversation with Yasmine Elgamal, a Roman figurative artist currently practicing in Mecklenburg, Germany. Elgamal was introduced to studio art as a young student, and contrary to the pessimism of the peers of her working class suburb, was steadfast in her ambition to become an artist. Disillusioned with the philosophies of the academy system, Elgamal forged her own path - reading keystones of art method, and participating in unorthodox workshops - such as comic art courses to study traditional anatomy. Elgamal developed a traditional foundation through untraditional means, and now uses a somewhat familiar style to render the dramas and aesthetics of her contemporary life - a life consumed by the feedback loops of a painter. 

@_yasmine_elgamal_

A conversation with Amy Erickson, an Oklahoman figurative painter practicing in Seattle, Washington. Erickson's work spans media from oil paint, to colored pencil, to collage. Her deep and lifelong attention to subject and multi-iterative method result in a "compression of multiple dimensions into one object”. Erickson's work seeks to illustrates the profound within familiar moments and settings. 

*ref, paraphrase, canvasrebel.com

@amyericksn

A conversation with Jerry Weiss, a figurative painter and author, raised in Miami, Florida, currently practicing in Connecticut, and teaching at the Art Students League of New York. Weiss has spent his life obsessed with the "sacred subjects" of the portrait and landscape. Weiss' influence of early 20th century illustrators has permeated his portraiture with a graphic quality that combined likeness & chromatic realism with bold outlines and compress dimensionality.

A conversation with Itzamna Reyes, a Mexican figurative artist currently practicing in Mexico City. Reyes’ childhood dream of becoming an artist was supported by his family - particularly his grandmother who had a friendship with a career artist. From humble begins, to graduating art college, Reyes was evolving as quickly as Mexico City around him - yet his artistic focus was unclear. Reyes took an internship at a psychiatric clinic as an artistic recreation instructor - and each morning, on his long commute, Reyes was captivated by the concrete sprawl in which he traveled. Inspired by his study of documentarian street art - Reyes decided to record the ever changing environment of Mexico City’s barrios - and to represent them honestly - as Reyes states: gray. 

@itzamnareyess

A conversation with Jaron Gyger, a Swiss figurative artist currently practicing in Berlin, Germany. Gyger’s practice acts as a type of journal, illustrating life experiences or emotional anecdotes. Gyger’s works are rendered in a style that lands in the intersection of kinetic abstraction, cubism, and figurativism. Gyger’s images take an unabashed approach to genuinity, prioritizing honesty and communication over politeness or popularity.   

@jaron_gyger

A conversation with Kate Powell, an American multi-disciplinary artist currently practicing between Tacoma, WA and Philadelphia, PA. Powell is a member of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts’ low-residency MFA class of 2024. 

Powell’s creative output spans music, sculpture, drawing, and painting. Powell’s subjects span portraiture, first-person observation, and still lifes of found objects. Binding this frenzy of work, a thread of jovial curiosity and intense feeling.     

@katepowellartist

A conversation with Diego Zelaya, a Mexican figurative artist currently practicing in Mexico City. Zelaya had a unique upbringing - the 3rd and youngest son of revolutionaries-turned-scholars. Zelaya’s family highly prioritized education, and at the age of 16, Zelaya transplanted to a niche institution in the UK. While there, Zelaya’s interest in visual arts flourished amongst the collections of Britain. Zelaya was able to influence his academy to develop a more robust arts curriculum - including studio practice and tours to France. After 7 years abroad, Zelaya returned to Mexico City to start a new chapter of his artistic practice - muralism. These large-scale projects were as lucrative as they were dangerous - and that realization became bitterly clear after a tragic accident. Zelaya was inspired to shun his previous work, and retreat into the contemplative practice of studio art. Zelaya, steeped in a household of political consciousness, doesn’t describe his work as overtly political, but fundamentally political - as he strives to illustrate the internal of the human condition.

@diegozly

A conversation with Sonja Haroldson, an American figurative artist based in New York City, and currently at residence in Wilton, Connecticut. Haroldson is a multidisciplinary artist whose output spans music, sculpture, drawing, and painting. Haroldson’s two dimensional work manifests in a style similar to architectural drafting - graphic lines, economic blocking, and simplified palettes - with energetic marks and muscular impasto. Harldson’s quasi-brutalist and cerebral fashion is curiously balanced with her preferred subject of tranquil and mundane scenes of apartment-dwelling and urban life. 

@sonjaharoldsonart

A conversation with Shannon Vaught, a representational realist painter currently living and working out of Columbus, Ohio.

*ref, shannonvaught.com

@shannonvaughtart

A conversation with Lorenna Lannes, a Brazilian figurative artist practicing in New York, New York. Lannes’ work focuses primarily on capturing and exploring the impression of covert signals of emotion and intention - the “energy” a person emits beneath verbal and physical language. To paraphrase Lannes’ description - these sub-physical signals are the most honest, and learning to interpret them can be of great utility - no more so than keeping yourself safe.    

@lorennalannes

A conversation with Lucy Stopford, a portrait painter currently practicing in Oxford, England. Stopford explores the relationship between marks and likeness; surpassing the obvious and rejecting the safety and repetition of a reliable method to find a new language for each subject.

*ref, lucystopford.com

@lucystopford_artist

A conversation with Ben Hope, an Oxonian figurative painter currently practicing in London. Hope utilizes various procedures, but iconically, his plein air work captures a frenzy of observations spanning scales and dimensions - from the hue of a particular seasonal lighting that must be returned to the following year, to the impression of a darting passer-by. Hope, inspired by great English artists, such as JMW Turner, has developed an application of kineticism and abrasion - ransacking his surfaces with marks.

A conversation with Jotham Malave', a figurative painter whose practice, in part, aims to rediscover and sustain Puerto Rican heritage and culture despite opposing forces.

*ref, mapr.org

@jotham.malave

A conversation with Ramiro Sanchez, an Venezuelan multidisciplinary artist currently practicing in Florence, Italy. Sanchez began his creative career as a gifted music student, participating in choir and the viola at a selective Jesuit school in Venezuela, Niños Cantores del Zulia. Inspired by the rich practice of Latin-American muralism, Sanchez pivoted to visual arts at the age of 13. Through extreme determination, and with only a gifted plane ticket, Sanchez relocated to study at Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence at the age of 19. Sanchez continued his education at the Florence Academy of Art, where he was invited to profess, and is now the Director of the Advanced Painting Program. Sanchez is currently in final years of a decade-spanning commission - the adornment of Saint Bede Catholic Church, is Williamsburg, Virginia. 

@ramirosanchez_art

A conversation with Roni Taharlev, a figurative painter practicing in Jaffa, Israel. Taharlev's work nods to the aesthetics of classical European painting, while exploring themes such as the objectification, gender, and birth.

*ref, wikipedia.com

@taharlevroni

A conversation with David Shevlino, a figurative painter currently practicing in Raleigh, North Carolina. Shevlino, with a foundation of classical appreciation and traditional technique, liberated by the rhythms of plein air, and ambition to discover a unique and self-expressive voice, had developed a style of figurative render that has inspired a generation of painters.

@davidshevlino

A conversation with Kirsten Valentine, a figurative painter currently practicing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Valentine utilizes found vintage photography as references - peering into the moments of strange people in strange times. Valentine combines mediums, graphics, and sober figurative representation, often suspended in a stark white void.

@kirstenvalentine

A conversation with Luke Hannam, an English figurative artist based in Rye, England. Hannam is a multidisciplinary artist - raised with a foundation in improvisational jazz - Hannam’s drawing and painting practice resemble this ‘ordered chaos’. Hannam is deeply interested in timeless motifs - the warrior, the fertility goddess; the dove of peace. As Hannam describes, the dove’s flight - it’s strength and ability -  emerges from its delicacy – as so does Hannam’s images - which convey power with economic, decisive lines. 

@lukehannampaintings

A conversation with Roxy Peroxyde, a figurative artist practicing in Montreal, Canada. Peroxyde is best known for her vivid contemporary interpretations of classic paintings which she describes to be “witnesses to how times change but people stay the same”. Peroxyde yields to her subconscious as she develops her compositions - blending humor, pop culture, fashion, and a universal, but sometimes suppressed, feminine gaiety in her images.

*ref, roxyperoxyde.com

@roxyperoxyde

A conversation with Amy Scherer, a figurative painter currently living and working in Washington state. Schere's current practice is base subjectively on 'perceptual misunderstanding'.

*ref, theflyingfuritbowl.co.uk

@a_scherer_

A conversation with Daria Troshkina, a Russian figurative painter practicing in Berlin, Germany. Troshkina recently approached oil painting from a background in tattoo art and its greater general culture. Fandom of horror, metal music, classic Russian love stories, and the Baroque aesthetic intersect in her experimental subject matter.

@dariatroshkina

A conversation with Jon Hingston, an English figurative painter currently practicing in New York City, New York. Hingston paints landscapes, still lifes, figures, and portraits - adapting to the seasons and circumstance, his format and subjects lend to opportunity. Hingston's work explores chromatic honesty and the deconstruction of figurative representation.

A conversation with Debora Koo, a Korean-American figurative painter currently practicing in Charlotte, North Carolina. Koo received her B.A at Smith College in Massachusetts, and her M.F.A. from Ewha University in Seoul, Korea. Koo’s work explores themes of otherism, romantic despair, and nostalgia. Koo’s iconic cake paintings offer a sense of indulgence and familiarity that pull the viewer into a sensatory memory like a kept polaroid. Koo's work has been exhibited in Ulsan, Korean, London, New York City, and Charlotte.

@deb_koo