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Ever since I can remember, I’ve been a sucker for a great portrait.  I’d walk through the museums and look into the faces of people long dead and wonder what route they took to get to the studio.  Did they pass markets?  What did their shoes feel like? What did the roads feel like beneath their feet?  It’s such an exciting notion – to be transported in time to when the paint was fresh and wet.

But then there are some portraits make you wonder more about the artist.  portraits like these. Can you imagine deciding that you’re going to make photorealistic embroidery portraits?  Or use naked humans as your paint?  How about composing the heads of screws to create portraits?  I think they’re all amazing and beautiful and I hope you click through to learn more about the artists.

 

Cayce Zavaglia

detail of Sophie – Hand Embroidery: Crewel Wool and Acrylic on Linen, 14 x 35 inches - photo © Cayce Zavaglia

detail of Aunt Lin – Hand Embroidery: Crewel Wool and Acrylic on Linen, 16.25 x 29 inches
photo © Yatzer.com

 

Andrew Myers – Screw Art

Portrait of John. Dimensions 48 in x 48 in x 5 in. Medium: screws, oil paint and phone book pages

Portrait of Bill. Dimensions 24 in x 24 in x 4 in. Medium: screws, oil paint and phone book pages

 

Chris Dorosz – Paint Drop Sculptures

stasis 13

stasis 24 (jeff and sheldon with children)

 The ‘paint drop’ sculptures develop the idea of the ‘staple paintings’ further by trapping fallen paint drops in a grid work of clear vertical rods.  Through the viewer’s movements in aligning and de-aligning these pixel-like paint drops, full body portrait forms emerge and vanish.  By placing my subjects in a form of ‘stasis’  through the medium I mean not only to protect them for a little while, but alternately to underscore the tenuous nature of human physicality  where any moment life as we know it might just collapse into a pool of droplets or drift upwards into the atmosphere.

I hate that I don’t know who this artist is.  But I couldn’t leave it out. I found this image, uncredited, on Pinterest.  I think it’s amazing though.