Original artwork description:

This painting is inspired by the social media grids that we all inhabit and communicate through. Particularly dating apps, where we show ourselves off to one another to gather attention and a few dates. The tiles represent Grindr profiles, perhaps the central figure is the one which stopped you in your tracks, who wants you to want them.

The figure itself is left intentionally faceless, as the profiles on this app are often faceless torsos, and anonymity is often a valuable or arousing quality in this context to some people.

The picture surface was built up with layers and strikes of thick oil paint to create a ridged texture to evoke a sense of the tangible skin and the bulk of the muscular figure. The choices of colours were a celebration of the excitement gotten from the model and carefully balanced in tone to make sure that the central figure pops out and appears 3-dimensional.

The grid itself is very important to my artwork as it is often how I begin a painting, by marking out the regions of the composition and transferring my initial sketches from paper to the larger canvas. I enjoy keeping it visible and for the purpose of this painting it serves as a doubly useful frame.

I've included several images of the work in progress to demonstrate how this painting was built up from a blank canvas to the fully rough surface it exists with now.

Oil paint on stretched canvas with painted sides, ready to hang.

Materials used:

Oil

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