Til We Have Faces: An Artist's Explanation

haleyindorato
Mar 19
12 min read

This month I had my first ever solo show (yes, I know it was technically a joint exhibition) at the Genesee Valley Council of the Arts in Mt. Morris, NY. Fifteen of my paintings were included in this show; most have never been exhibited before. I wanted to provided an explanation of the show and my work for anyone who was interested and wanted to learn more.

“Til We Have Faces”

The title “Til We Have Faces” comes from a song of the same name by the band Silent Planet. They’re a metal band from the west coast, and one of my favorites. Most of their songs are cathartic to me; listening to their music helps me get out some of the suppressed anxiety, rage, and helplessness I often feel. This song specifically is very poetic and abstract. The instrumental typically expresses the emotions. However, there are some lines I think can relate to my work.

“Time

How can I survive?

How can I

Survive when the seconds infect my lungs?

I can't inoculate or save myself when everything is built to spill

Hold us together when the fear tears us apart

Lovers, forever, you are the answer to the dark”

I often find myself falling in the trap of existentialism. I want to be remembered, recognized, for people to know I was here, even though I know with time we are all forgotten. So I need to live for now. Even then, I still want people to see me. Much of my work consists of portraiture. “Til We Have Faces” implies that we don’t yet have faces. Don’t yet have representation; that we aren't recognized. Seeing someone’s face is to see them as human. All of my work is inspired by my own feeling of lack of belonging, and so I often search for subjects (both people, places, and things) that are overlooked or deemed invaluable or forgotten in society.

Strangely, once a very conservative subject, portraiture today is often politically charged. My work is no exception. I paint others who have been overlooked and "don't belong" as a way to provide humanness, presence, and recognition as important to the viewers. My figures are typically women, people of color, members of the LGBTQ+ community. Even "straight white men" are depicted in ways that distort expectations of stereotypes. Oil paint is a visceral, bodily, human material. There's a long history of those who've been represented, and who haven't. When painting people it's important to be aware of both the history and current pop culture ways people are presented. Especially with the current administration trying to separate, divide, and sow hate among the American people. America has a complicated, troubled past (and present) full of racism, exploitation, and abuse. If I am not directly confronting that past in my work, at least I am aware of it and choosing respect and appreciation over bigotry and violence.

Oil painting is a medium that's existed for 400 years. In the beginning it was used by churches and monarchs to capture divine grace. As a result, even to this day paintings tend to automatically add an element of importance to the subject. To emphasize this importance, I also paint my subjects on a life sized scale. People unconsciously compare the size of things to themselves. Things that are larger can have an overwhelming presence; they are literally bigger/greater than us. Smaller objects can be less of a threat, allowing us to move closer, and be intimate with the small object. By depicting my subjects on a life sized scale, not only am I using the tradition of large oil paintings to highlight the subjects importance, but forcing us to see the subjects on the same level as ourselves. This is emphasized by most of the figures in my work directly confronting the viewer with their gaze. The people in these paintings aren’t just pretty objects to look at. They interact with us, confront us, reach out to us with their eyes in an effort to be seen.

Most of the people and places depicted are based on real people and places around Rochester. I often use myself as a model as well; typically when I need quick access to a pose. I don’t think of these paintings as self portraits, but characterizations of myself, of an artist, or of a woman in general. No matter the person depicted, the setting and surrounding objects are just as important to me as the figure. The setting and objects can tell us more about the subjects than likeness alone. I’m also just as interested in overlooked places and objects as people. As humans, we shape the world around us. We make objects that we cherish, use, and discard. But these objects and environments affect us as well. They have social, cultural, and political implications. Even something simple like the weather has a huge impact on us and our lives.

Individual Work (in chronological order of creation):

“Taste of Japan”

2023. Oil on canvas. 72"x48".

This painting takes place in a sushi restaurant in Henrietta, NY. The title is the name of the restaurant. At the time, I was interested in the relationship between figure and space. And especially interested in the space itself. The backside of the neon sign, pepsi machine with drinks, the objects on the counter and tables, even the ceiling tiles that are old and stained alluding to the outdated, worn nature of the rest of the restaurant we can't see.

“Greenhouse”

2023. Oil on canvas. 48" x 60

This painting is the interior of a local greenhouse. At the time I was really interested in plants and foliage, and starting to think of foliage as pattern. At the time I was really interested in patterns.

“Main Character Syndrome”

2023. Oil on canvas. 60"x36".

Initially, this piece started as a way to explore my interest in foliage. How sometimes the sky is painted over the leaves in paintings. I was also interested in loose brushstrokes and color.

As I worked on this piece I realized some of the initially unintentional symbolism. The figure is wearing a superboy shirt, is rescuing a cat from a tree, and the hand is in a position reminiscent of religious paintings of saints. This led me to title the piece, "Main Character Syndrome."

Does the character in this painting believe they are the main character? Do viewers think she thinks she is the main character? Do I think I'm the main character?

Also, just a nice big painting to explore materiality of paint and light.

“November Iris”

2023. Oil on canvas. 36" x 72".

This life size painting captures the evening November light as it shines across my friend Iris. They are painted with more focus and detail, while the background foliage dissolves into areas of color.

Iris is a non-binary person who uses they/them. In this moment they were physically presenting more feminine. I always admired their confidence in expressing themselves through clothing. It's something I've struggled with personally.

I really just wanted to share the beauty of my friend with others. The beauty of being yourself.

“Urge #2 (Covered with Tattoos to Turn Artist into Art”)

(2024) Oil on canvas. 20" x 60"

This was inspired by one of my favorite painters, Hernan Bas' recent (at the time) body of work titled, "The Conceptualists." Like Bas, I decided to start a small series of paintings where I painted whatever I wanted. I decided the theme of the series would be "urges." Of all kinds.

This one is about how I really like tattoos, and if I had the money, I'd cover my body with tattoos. The figure I use in these series is a character of me. It’s based on me, but is a fictionalized version. Each one exaggerating a different urge. In real life I wouldn’t get these exact tattoos. Instead the tattoos pictured are a mix of what I have already, what I know I want, art references, and whatever popped into my head at the moment of creation. This series is also inspired by my hopeless desire to escape the place I grew up in. Which can feel so impossible at times. A fictionalized representation of my life and exploration of repressed desires as a way of fighting my feelings of helplessness and being stuck.

“Coca Cola Sunflowers”

(2024) Oil on panel. 11" x 14"

This piece depicts Mexican Coke bottles and a book about Van Gogh. Painted from life, the goal of this painting was to explore color and mark making. The subjects also pose an interesting relationship between mass produced commodity and art.

“Gin, Tequila, The Wave”

2024. Oil on panel. 11" x 14"

This colorful, little painting was painted from life from a setup in my studio.

The background is from the cover of a book that has Hokusai's "The Wave" on it. And then there is a gin and a tequila bottle that I kept because I found them really fascinating. I also really love art about art.

With this piece I was focused on color and mark making. However, I think there is something interesting conceptually that happens when glass bottle that are empty leftovers of a product distort the image of a famous piece of art. Art so famous it belongs in the collective consciousness of humanity....and has become a commodity itself.

“Cuervo, Bacardi, Comics”

(2024) Oil on panel. 11" x 14"

This still life was painted from a set up in my studio. Old comic books make up the backdrop for this Bacardi and Jose Cuervo Especial bottles. The goal of this painting was to emphasize color and brush strokes. There's an interesting juxtaposition between the bottles of alcohol and the popular visual media of comics. This is the third painting in the series.

“High Falls, High Hopes (Wanya)”

2024. Oil on canvas. 36" x 60"

This painting is of a fellow Rochester Artist Collaborative member, Wanya Simmons. He's depicted smiling at the High Falls overlook in Rochester, NY. I believe it's important to paint people with an environment and objects around them. So I asked Wanya where is somewhere important to high, and he said High Falls park because it helps him feel at ease.

This was my first time painting other artists. A lot of my work is inspired by art history. Around the time of this painting, I had been thinking a lot about Courbet's "The Painter's Studio" and how he included other artist/philosopher friends in that piece representing influences. I also was thinking about how impressionists would do paintings of each other as well.

“Picnic in the Yard”

2024. Oil on canvas. 72"x54".

This painting is loosely inspired by Manet's "Luncheon on the Grass." I love paintings about painting. And I also like being a little weird some times, and this is a mix of both. Why not have these figures dressed like this in a suburban backyard? And then there are books about painting around. As well as a small version of "Luncheon on the Grass" reminding us of the canvas surface. There's also a mix of rough, identifiable brushstrokes, and more refined, smoother, more "realistic" paint.

“Drawing in the Gallery (CJ)”

(2024) Oil on canvas. 48" x 72".

This painting features CJ, a fellow artist member from Rochester Artist Collaborative (RAC). We took this reference photo in the Dutch room at the Memorial Art Gallery. CJ really wants to draw comics and enjoys much of the same manga that I do. Specifically the art of “Vagabond” by Takehiko Inoue. In our contemporary world flooded with images, artists look at all types of art from different time periods, all over the world. This is why CJ is in a room with traditional oil paintings, looking at recent manga, and drawing from both. I drew with pencil on the areas of paper in the painting. Adding concept art and drawings from “Vagabond”, “Berserk”, and “Dragonball.” As well as traditional portrait drawings and a Van Gogh landscape.

I'm interested in making art about art, paintings about paintings. For me, this piece explores the process of art making in addition to having paintings of paintings, drawings of drawings. There's also a nice variety of paint quality. Opaque, painterly areas like the pink wallpaper, floor, and pants exist next to delicate layers of glazing on CJ's face and hands.

This painting is set to be included in the 69th Juried Finger Lakes Regional Show at the Memorial Art Gallery in June as well.

“Artist Sitting (The Fool)”

(2024) Oil on canvas. 36"x36"

This painting depicts an artist (myself) sitting in a chair reading a book with a landscape in the distance. The book is "Contemporary Painting" by Suzanne Hudson from 2021. The patterned fabric opening to reveal a distant landscape is a reference to many older portrait paintings that had a landscape in the background or fabric parting to reveal something. The landscape in this painting is an overlook area at Sam's Point in the Catskills.

The goal of this piece was to continue to explore painting about painting. Its secondary title is "The Fool" because I often feel stupid for pursuing the arts, painting especially. It seems no one values painting as much as I do, I think too deeply about it, spend time reading about painting, make pieces for intellectual pursuit and not market appeal, and I can't find anywhere to even show what I make. And yet I continue to foolishly make more paintings

“Inner Eye-The King (Shemar)”

(2024) Oil on canvas. 48"x72"

The sitter in this painting is a local rapper/musician that goes by "King Dugi". When he's not rapping, he works as an orthopedic nurse at one of the local hospitals. I met Shemar at a couple Rochester Artist Collaborative (RAC) events. I wanted to create a large portrait inspired by old paintings of monarchs and the elite, and King Dugi seemed to fit. Plus, he has this super cool sequined coat.

This painting is still based on life, like most of my work. Here he is seated in the French Room at Artisan Works. Fancy items we associate with generations past fill the space. Hanging on the back wall is a copy of Raphael's "School of Athens." An extremely influential painting for the history of art. Personally, I enjoy the very red walls and the decorative pattern on the carpet.

Obviously, as "King Dugi" this painting should be titled, "The King." However, "Inner Eye" also adds another layer to this piece. I believe that all art forms influence each other in this globally connected society we have made. "Inner Eye" references an idea that comes from African Art. Sometimes in masks or sculptures, the eyes of a face will be different sizes to represent seeing both the outside physical world, and the inner emotional/philosophical world. Internal eye or mind's eye is associated with memory, intention, intuition, insight, thinking, imagination, critical analysis, visual cognition, dreams, trances, prophecy, hypnotism, empathy, telepathy, divination, healing, benevolence, malevolence, extrasensory perception, and witchcraft, among others.

I hoped that even one of those concepts would invite the viewer to contemplation when they see this painting.

“American History”

(2024) Oil on canvas. 12"x12"

This is a still life, painted from life and found in my home. Normally, I paint still lives to explore the beauty of color and mark making oil paint is capable of. I felt, when paired together, these items brought up poignant topics.

I found myself looking at the branding on these objects. The corn meal brand called "Indian Head" uses an outdated stereotypes of a Native American. While Sapporo is a Japanese beer that you'd only be able to tell is Japanese based on the name. I hoped with the title "American History" to encourage viewers to think about the history of the country. Particularly the treatment of Natives and Japanese people. Particularly how both group were forced from their homes at some point. Either during the trail of tears (and basically all of the US's existence) or with internment camps during WWII.

These are contemporary products and its interesting to see how one relies on a cultural group and stereotypes to sell it's products, and the other one-we have a "better" relationship with- doesn't.

Still lives are a great way to examine the objects that surround us. And can inform us better about individuals or a culture than a portrait can sometimes

“Culture Collector”

(2024) Oil and acrylic on canvas. 60"x48"

This painting explores the relationships between artist/art collectors. As an artist I read a lot of art history and theory, look at a lot of art, and have a deep appreciation of everyday objects. This piece also explores race, the evolution of race:artist:art in America. Who had opportunities then and now. How non-white people were depicted then versus now. Who buys the art from the artist? Can someone own culture or is art for everyone? Even the word “culture” in America often tends to mean “black culture”. So to depict a white woman/artist/collector “collecting” culture hopefully opens up conversations into cultural appropriation and diffusion in America, a land of many cultures.

Included in this painting are real books and objects that I own. Some I've gone out of my way to buy, and others are considered antiques that I've inherited from my family. Featured on the "wall" behind me/this character of me is art by other artists: Utagawa Toyohiro's "Summer Evening" (1801-04), Vincent Van Gogh's "Irises" (1890), Kerry James Marshall's "De Style" (1993), and Piet Mondrian's "Composition with Red, Yellow, Blue, and Black" (1921). This piece ultimately shows what I think about as an artist.

Thank you for reading!

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