I am a figurative painter with a focus on portraiture. In my current series, I paint women in sports. By reappropriating Christian religious imagery and motifs from the Soviet avant garde, as well as footage from the Olympics, I conjure a world of all-women athletics, one both recognizable and inaccessible, full of inside jokes and insularity. In my paintings, this world is a utopia.
I’m fascinated by the way the athlete’s body becomes a tribute to its sport, a machine built for one purpose. I play with proportion, emphasizing parts of the body that the athlete herself has emphasized through training. Beyond my figural stylizations, I render landscape elements in bizarre ways and accentuate unnatural tones. Just as these athletes radiate dedication to sport, I hope my paintings indicate my love of this medium. Painting, after all, like sports, is a serious form of play.
@faysanders_
