Historically oil paint has been a tool for documenting important dead people. I’m doing the same thing with a contemporary twist.   As a painter in the age of the internet, I spend an insane amount of time looking at pictures online. This ranges from cute anime characters, the most boring man you’ve ever seen in your life, and even mutilated corpses. This collection has many things in common. It is a reflection of the human condition and the beauty in our everyday online experiences. Welcome to something I like to call “Internet Realism”. It’s just like old Realism but on the internet. Luminous blues reference digital light on skin. Burning reds, fleshy pinks, and pallid yellows let you meditate on the weirdness of having a body. Maybe you can imagine yourself on the other side of the subject’s monitor or place yourself next to your favorite virtual pop star Hatsune Miku. Regardless, due to being painted wet into wet with such confidence and technical skill, the surfaces make for a nice painterly treat for the eyes while reminding you of a screen. These are online yet intimate moments that I want to heighten.  I paint them as earnestly as they present themselves; raw and unfiltered, fat and shirtless in front of a webcam for example. Some may see cringe in these paintings but I think cringe and earnestness are one in the same. We’re all cringey in our own ways but there lies a lot of beauty in that cringe. In painting these people I’m shining a new light on them beyond the one coming from their screens. They’re part of painting history now and they deserve it. I may not be as fast as a screenshot but at least my brushwork makes it look just as candid.

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