Cheryl Magellen
Cheryl Magellen
Exhibition dates: September 1 thru 29 Reception: September 8, 5-8pm
https://www.facebook.com/MagellenFineArt/
https://www.facebook.com/CMagellen/
The Selfie Show Story aka the Artist’s Statement:
I love people. I love faces. I love painting portraits and figures. That’s the bottom line.
I chose to temporarily re-locate from my home in Prospect, Oregon to Arizona in 2013 to care for my mother. It’s a pretty desolate place – 2-3 hours from Phoenix, 4-5 hours from San Diego and 4-5 hours from Los Angeles. Right smack dab in the middle of Nowhere. Not a bad place for painting cacti, but being a figurative painter was a bit more challenging. But then again, I have never done things the easy way.
I’ve had to rely a lot on the internet. It keeps me (somewhat) connected to what is happening in the art world and allows me to make connections I wouldn’t otherwise be able to make through regular social channels. Over the years, I have learned that most ordinary folks are not comfortable having their photos taken, but when selfies started becoming popular, a whole new world of willing portrait subjects were born.
I’ve always been attracted to the slightly quirky, candid, out of the ordinary shutter captures. I especially like drama and attitude. When friends posted particularly unique photos of themselves, I would ask to use them as photo references. Paintings from these images became what I did for fun, what fueled my creative drive, and made me a more disciplined painter. That’ when the idea for the Selfie Show was born.
I started asking people I had never met to submit their photos. I sent out requests in newsletters, blogs, print media, and on social media. The images started coming in slowly and then began to pick up speed. A month before my painting deadline, I had more images than I had time to paint.
It is my hope that the viewer will be moved to see what I love about faces. How, even though the sgtructure is the same, every face has its own story to tell. And, more importantly, that portraiture doesn’t have to be just another pretty smile. There is beauty and depth beyond that smile, and that is what I love about being there.
Keep submitting! Next year the paintings will be larger and could contain multiple figures! And, look for upcoming Selfie Shows in Utah and Arizona in 2019.