What I'm Trying to Say Painting

Like many of my paintings, this piece is composed of many layers of paint. For this piece I wanted to continue working in oils, and I wanted to try combining a number of different styles onto a single surface, like having a conversation with different styles or schools that I thought were interesting. The central figure at the bottom of the piece is holding their hands in a conversational, almost confessional way, with the subject of the rambling, visual conversation branching out behind them.There are elements of Post-Impressionism, German Expressionists, the Futurists, Eastern Landscape painting as well as more contemporary influences like graphic novel illustrations and Brazilian street art, all combined and re-presented on a single surface. The thickly layered paint and bright, simultaneously warm and cool palette speak to the way the painting developed as a response to previous layers rather than being planned from the first marks.The colors work their way around the sides of the canvas stretchers and towards the back of the piece, like the surface dimensions were unable to contain the conversation that began with a mark and spread off the canvas.