(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.