Spotlight Artist

Heidi Draley McFall

Midwest
Artist profile photo
Featured in New American Paintings

Artist Statement

These pastel portraits are rendered by hand; they are sourced from my personal archive of 35mm photographs, which spans fifteen years. They explore the vastness of the human condition, and the emotions and interactions of people engaged in specific moments. The dramatic chiaroscuro, fine grain, and peculiarities of film segue harmoniously into the mark making of my drawings—the chalky pastel marks mimic the grain of film. Utilizing film photography as the starting point for my work creates unpredictability of content and outcome. Happenstance, strangeness, and suspense emerge. Thoughtful commune with the subjects is necessary, and for my purposes, leads to pictures of greater poignancy and emotional weight. Blending the unique singularity of film with the complexity of the individual human condition reveals the commonalities between the two. The enigmatic qualities of film inherently mirror the unknowableness of human existence that is represented in the drawn portraits.

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