portraiture — Artist Lucas Novak

Portrait commissions are available. No modeling experience needed, and no need to sit for long periods of time because reference photos suffice! Contact Lucas Novak for more details.

48” x 36”, oil and acrylic on canvas, 2021

Here is an example of a figure painting completed in January, 2021. The balance between beauty, vulnerability, and mystery is a timeless feeling, like finding a wild flower beside a waterfall on a cold mountain. A quiet peacefulness with a trace of sadness. It is not something people experience every day, but it is something people remember. What I enjoyed about painting this subject was the way she crossed her arms and feet, with downcast eyes and tilted head, holding her body in a manner that suggested vulnerability or sadness. She sat naturally and gracefully as the sheet flowed over her like water or cream.

Her pose also evokes mystery because the viewer wants to see her eyes and full figure which is blocked only by the loose flowing sheet. What is hidden just as important as what is revealed. Like an enigma.

Many of us have probably strolled through halls or white rooms with portrait after portrait of seemingly the same portrait over and over, dulling our overall impression of the concept of portraiture. But if we free our minds of categorizing, historical chronologies, and overbroad groupings, by isolating each work of art as its own entity, then I think the dullness of the portraiture idea disappears.

I think the concept of portraiture will never vanish as it applies to painting. There is an intrigue with the way a person can interpret and represent another person through lines and colors -- it's organic and human -- something that can't be replaced by machines or any other form of art. I don't mean to say that artists should just repeat what's been done in the past; to the contrary, the challenge remains, as it does with all forms of art, to create something fresh and original.

Freshness and originality are not defined by mere subject matter. They just require creating something beyond what is known. Whatever that means. Undefined by their very nature.

Here are two styles I've been working on. Whether these paintings are fresh and original, I'll let you decide.