What is Portraiture?

"Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter" 

- Oscar Wilde, The Portrait of Dorian Gray

By dictionary definition, portraiture is the "art of painting or taking portraits". A portrait is a painting or photograph in which the face and expression are visible. Photographers and artists alike often create portraits to capture the emotion or likeness of the subject or to use their face to convey a certain message. However, portraiture can be warped or edited to become not just a portrayal of human likeness but something more. Manipulation of the human form can be disturbing or moving or striking and what was simply a photograph of a face can become a statement, a commentary or simply an interesting piece of art.



With my portraiture, I want to tamper with the concepts of colour, perception and depth to challenge the notion of the portrait. Inspired by photographers such as Rankin, and artists such as Andy Warhol, I plan to combine art and photography, surrealism and pop-art, colour and light to create something more than a photograph. 
Bibliography:
The Portrait of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
Art History