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This week, we shine a light on five portrait artists who demonstrate that while portrait painting has been with us for a long time, it is far from extinct! Photography and new media have yet to find their way to capture the soul in that way! Here is the work of 5 brilliant painters playing with the portrait concept in a traditional or more contemporary way. 

Portrait:  A portrait is an artistic depiction of a person, be it painting, photograph, sculpture, avatar, sculpture and more; it more than often focuses on the face and its expression. Intending to highlights mood and personality, it can display the likeness, visually speaking or metaphorically. 

Thaís Akanne 

Thaís Akanne has been an artist since childhood. Born in a creative household with a musician dad and an artist mom, it isn’t surprising that she now expresses herself through creative mediums, be fashion, painting or music. She also masters the art of the translation world. Her inspiration and fascination are deeply engrained in people, bringing them together and creating connections, be it fashion, music, photography, language or painting.   

Thaís charmed us with how slick, soft, and at the same time sharp, very realistic her portraits are. Colourful, atmospherical, you can feel the luscious texture of her work.   

Her work can be appreciated on her .art website thaisakanne.art or on Instagram under the handle @thaisakanne.art. 

 

Amelia Karsten  

It is in a totally different way that Amelia Karsten, known as Milly, brings us to her universe and the way she sees people. Layering paint, amalgaming abstract shapes and brush strokes, almost out of focus elements, with the human body. The results are compelling, and the energy and movement can be felt through what she describes as a “broken image.”  

Edinburgh and New Forested based, she is a contemporary artist who focuses on motion and time.   

Amelia caught our attention with her flowy portraits, impressive in size, making you want to jump in a glimpse of the world she depicts. Her work manages to make us feel the atmosphere present in it.   

Her work can be discovered on Instagram under @ameliakarsten.art and her website ameliakarsten.art 

 

Melanie LaMay 

Las Vegas based visual artists Melanie LaMay has been created art, digitally or traditionally, for more than 10 years. Portraiture has been central to her practice. She is currently studying to earn a BFA from Laguna College of Art and Design and already holds an Associate’s degree in Art with Arts Emphasis from College of Southern Nevada. In the past years, her work has been showcased in several group exhibitions.   

She grasps our attention with her versatility, passing from traditional modes of depiction to very raw and contemporary portraits.   

Visit her website melanielamay.art to discover more about her work to find her under @aesirly on Instagram. 

 

Ana Monteiro  

Reflecting on the concept of the “Self,” Portuguese figurative artist Ana Monteiro builds her work around the idea of symbolism and magical realism. The “Self” is multi-faceted. Her paintings transform the portrait into symbols and attempt to capture the obscured and complex composite that makes human beings who they are, mostly when thought in conjunction with the Other, the social landscape and in relationship to ourselves.   

Since 2011, she has exhibited both solo and in groups. She holds a BA and a MA in Painting from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto.  

Her portraits are stunning, detailed and storytelling. We absolutely love that she shows work in progress and lets us take a deeper dive into her creative process on her Instagram.   

To see it yourself, follow her @anamonteirostudio, or pay her website anamonteiro.art a visit.   

 

Gustavo Ramos 

Oil painter Gustavo Ramos is working traditionally on portraiture painting with and ease and softness. His talent is more and more recognized and sought-after. Since youth in Brazil, he loves to draw, but it is moving to the United States as a teenager that became the game changer of his artistic journey. Not knowing English when he got to Arizona, Ramos mentioned that “I had to depend a lot on observing body language when trying to communicate.” This was the tipping point, and now he shares with us his sensitive and compelling portraits.  

We love the softness and the coziness of his portraits. They are inviting and engaging.   

 You can discover more about his practice on his website at gustavoramos.art or by looking at his work on Instagram under @gustavoramosart 

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ABOUT THIS NEW SECTION  

The .art Domains has always been dedicated to connect, empower, and support its community members and foster a sense of belonging to the art world. This new section celebrates creators that have recently joined our community. It is our way to give back and shine a light on amazing creatives, especially in these testing times! If you would like to be feature in a post please take a look at our submission guidelines here. 

 

Feature Image : On the left, Nicolaes Pickenoy’s “Portrait Of A Young Woman.” On the right, a recreation of the 1632 painting, with a toilet paper collar. Painting courtesy of J. Paul Getty Museum. Photo recreation by Bryan Beasley