Nicholas Papadakis
Painting Monograph
The works in this ongoing series of metaphorical portrait paintings strive to capture signature moments in the lives of people with whom I'm familiar. Those moments — that in a flash of recognition remind us of the individual's unique charm (and often times reveal life-changing states of mind) — are ultimately expressions of universal human qualities.
In my attempt to explore these archetypes through metaphor I have chosen to represent each vignette as a montage rather than a literal portrait; by layering imagery culled from the public domain along with my own drawings and photography, it has been my intention to introduce as much shared reference as possible while still retaining the original inspirational narrative — creating portraits that are both familiar and unique.
The final synthesis as transparent glaze oil paintings solidifies these ideas for me into a seamless whole. By translating all of the original source material into one medium any residual contextual barriers are removed: the result being a unified vision that transcends even the brushstrokes.