Genesis - portriats by Ryan Hewett

In this show the artist continues his exploration both of portraiture and his passion for oil as a painterly medium. Contrary to the tradition of verisimilitude, for Hewett the portrait is not about capturing an external likeness of a subject; but rather as a portal to an inner journey of self-exploration. Hewett does not use sitters or models in an effort to produce a realistic depiction. Although photographs constitute his starting point , he relies principally on the free-flowing processes of memory and creative imagination. His portraits encapsulate the truism: that the subject matter of all art is, ultimately, the self.

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