Elizabeth Peyton
Prolific portraitist of popular people By Carrie TuckerModern portraiture sans irony.
When painter Elizabeth Peyton rose to mainstream fame in the mid 1990s, androgyny was a prized aesthetic, and Peyton’s work lauded the sensitive, feminine males (most often musicians and celebrities) of that time. However, Peyton's work has developed since that decade; indeed, given the present day's ever-increasing celebrity obsession, her early work now feels prescient. Photographic images form the basis of Peyton’s work; her detailed, lushly colored portraits, often done in oil on canvas (“You know it’ll last forever,” she says), serve as snapshots preserved in amber: a delicate Kurt Cobain, brooding Jarvis Cocker, Princes William and Harry at their mother’s funeral. Portraiture can seem distant, a cold and sometimes cruel observation, but Peyton’s love for her subjects – not just celebrities, but also exes, friends, and family members - is obvious. She removes the cynicism and hidden agendas from contemporary art, and injects admiration and wistfulness in its place. What you see is truly what you get: Peyton shrugged off the slack irony that soured so much of the '90s' cultural output. Her transcendence from fan worship to genuine connection has inspired a new generation of painters.
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Michelle and Sasha Obama Listening to Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention 2008
Elizabeth Peyton
