Seeing The Person
Alice Neel + Jordon Castell+ David Hockney
“Whether I'm painting or not, I have this overweening interest in humanity. Even if I'm not working, I'm still analysing people.” - Alice Neel
Alice Neel has been a long-standing influence on my practice. Neel’s work captures the psychology of her sitters; her portraits are not always flattering. However, looking at her work, you gain a real sense of that person. Neel worked in obscurity for most of her life, and it wasn’t until she was in her 70s that she received a major retrospective. Neel was creating when portraiture was no longer fashionable, fighting against the expected societal expectations that were forced onto her. Neel’s paintings draw me in often with the direct gaze of her subjects. She is a collector of souls and painted all the people around her.
When looking at Neel’s work, I am drawn to her ability to represent her figures using minimal gestural mark-making. Neel toes the line perfectly between finished and unfinished work. This is something I’ve been experimenting with myself recently. How much of a painting can I leave unfinished? Which sections should be over-worked, and which should be more laboured, how does this effect the reading of the painting?
David Hockney's and Alice Neel's Drawings
My process often starts with drawing, I work from life and from photography. I employ similar drawing methods as seen by Alice Neel and David Hockney. Considering economy of mark and line, how some elements of the drawing can be left 'unfinished' while other elements are more laboured and greater attention is given to them such as faces, hands and fabric.
Within my own practice, I like to use ink, watercolour and coloured pencils at the beginning of my process. I particularly like coloured pencils as once the line is down, it can't be removed or rubbed out. You will always see the journey of marks placed down. This results in me really looking at my subjects and then also having to be very considered when placing my marks down. Often when I'm struggling to generate ideas or thinking about my application of mark I will create pastiches of these artists drawings techniques, trying to think how can I get the most important information down without the work becoming over laboured.
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Jordon Casteel
I discovered Casteel though looking at the work of Neel. Casteel is heavily influenced by Neels practice. Her process is similar Neel’s in that she paints the people within her local community. Casteel often paints portraits of her family members, lover, friends, and strangers within New York. Her focus was mainly on the African American community as this is her community.
When looking at Casteel’s work, I don’t find it problematic for her to paint and go out into Harlem and paint black men and women within her local community. However, if I, as a white woman, went out into the streets of London and documented the people around me, it would almost feel exploitative: as though I was trying to represent another person’s narrative or culture, it would feel to me surface level. While I am aware that my paintings often depict white women, this is because I am trying to paint what’s authentic to me. It concerns me that my practice gives a voice and space to only a specific type of woman representing a group of women with the most significant representation in the mainstream media. Therefore, my work doesn’t feel as though it is very intersectional. But then it feels if I did start to include women from different cultures, this wouldn’t be genuine.
Castell’s is commenting on race and gender, and she is documenting her community. She speaks openly about how painting these people who, to begin, were strangers became close and long-term friends. Castell paints with love and connection and this to me shines though within her paintings and depictions of the person.