Jac I

Ever since I made Skinny White Girl, I have been hooked on minimal aesthetics. If you've looked through my blog, you know that I began as a naturalist. That interest was very helpful, for technical skill, but it's a little boring. I'm also a slow worker, so I get tired of trying to mimic photographs, after a week or so. The biggest problem was that I didn't feel like what I was doing said much about me. I've always struggled to express myself, and copying old masters gave me little opportunity to speak. Sure, it said that I love Michelangelo, or whatever, but not much else.

Around mid-May, of 2012, I decided I was tired of graphite. I was fed up, in general with my life. I had just declined an offer from Parsons Paris and SMFA in Boston, because I couldn't afford to go. Despite massive scholarships, I was just too poor. The former school was my dream, so I was rather upset. I needed to make myself feel better. Usually, I do that with retail therapy, but considering that I had already spent a lot of money, during my visit to Paris, this was not an option. I asked myself, "what makes me happy?" The answer came quickly: models. I love beauty.

I had been watching a lot of runway videos (Decarnin's days at Balmain), and flipping through The Fashion Spot, despite not having a membership. All the while, I had been gathering a collection of pictures I liked. Originally, I just wanted to keep track of looks I like, for future reference. Then one day, I was fooling around with an image, trying to make it look a little better, and I discovered that I could reduce it to black and white (like you see here). I tried with some other pictures, and found that some were very striking.

This is the first work I ever made in this style. The model is Jac Jagaciak, a long time favourite of mine. The original is 5.5"x11", but the idea is that I can project these and do paintings of any size. I hope to be able to make prints soon, too, in large sizes. Created May 20, 2012.