Portrait Painted

Thanks for playing

2010-07-12T08:24:00.001-07:00

Until further notice, posting is suspended on this site. Feel free to browse old entries, though, you may or may not find them interesting. Toodles!

The Art Director's Club

2010-06-08T06:54:00.000-07:00

We'll be whooping it up NYC style this evening at the Art Director's Club (ADC). They, along with the Social Media Society are hosting "The Art of Social Media" as part of Internet Week. The ADC is at 106 West 29th Street and you can buy tickets here although there are only a few left...
About 15-20 pieces from the Portrait Painted series will be up along with a video montage of the series. Also, the hilarious Justin Gignac will be showing some of his "Nudes" from Chat Roulette. There will also be music and free booze!
Ping me if you'd like to go as I do have a few comp passes remaining.
Hope to see you there!

Back from a brief respite

2010-05-19T09:54:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, my mother told me if I didn't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. I am not very good at adhering to that virtue, but when I do, I feel much better about myself. It's not the exact reason I haven't posted anything for a while (although it is part) sadly, I just forget.
I wish I had a better reason for neglecting this site because to be honest, this blog was started to chart as much of the portrait painted project as we could. However, not everything we've experienced along the way should be shared, because some of it has been painful and a small part has just been downright ugly.
But 18 months in, let's reflect on some of the good things, because perspective is always important to keep in the center. So here are a few things that have added to the success of this project or speaks to the success of this project somehow, in no particular order:
1. Speaking to 1st Fans at the Brooklyn Art Museum
2. Group show and panelist at Yale U
3. Many new great friends and growing relationships with artists and art lovers alike
4. Speaking to grad students at SCAD
5. Solo show at Denise Bibro, NY
6. Solo show at Edelman, NY
7. Solo show and residency with Galerie Myra in France
8. Upcoming show at Art Director's Club
9. Lots of press
10. Brooklyn Arts Council/ DCA Grant
11. Successful fund raising for studio space via Kickstarter
12. GREAT Studio in Sunset Park thanks to 11. and 12.
13. Radar/Workbook Projects mini-documentary on project
I am sure I am forgetting a few things...but that's a pretty decent list I think.

I will tell you that going from near obscurity to a relatively modicum level of recognition is really quite bizarre--granted it's not me, it's Matt going through the process, but as his spouse and constant sounding board... Let me just say for the people who are better known for much more important things, I don't know how you do it. The amount of work that goes into managing an image and all the different types of relationships that need catering to, it's incredibly challenging. I've always thought I was good at being discernible and level headed about most things, to be flexible where needed and firm where needed. Not perfect, but at least aware that different people require different approaches, but to say those characteristics have been utilized and tested over the past 18 months is an understatement by 10 degrees.
Over the next six months, we will be wrapping up many aspects of this project and moving on to other things. I imagine this blog will also be put to rest, but who knows things change quickly around here...

Vence

2010-04-02T02:28:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Vence on Sunday, March 28, 2010 to blue skies and a very warm welcome by our host and gallery owner/residency sponsor, Jacques Putzeys. To say that he has been kind and gracious is not enough, but we will thank him personally every chance we get. The south of France, spoiled in light and beauty, is where we have spent the past six days and where Matt will continue to live for the remainder of April after we leave on the 13th. The gallery is located in the historic area of the city of Vence--filled with galleries and fresh food markets and even an old Roman cobblestone street. A tight fitted spiral staircase leads you to four floors above the street level gallery (which opened with Matt's work yesterday). Each floor contains one living space and the third, fourth, and fifth floor make up the apartment by which we eat, sleep, and well, paint.
My french is getting us by, barely. After six days, I am feeling a bit exhausted at trying to translate small conversations and trying to think in french. There are a few English speakers that give us a bit of reprieve but I wonder what Matt will do when I a gone. Lock himself in the studio I suppose. Otto is curious about the language and I've been trying to teach him a few things to say to the children so he can play along with them but he is intimidated and needs a bit more time. Astrid is not sleeping well, which means I am not sleeping well, which means I am kind of cranky. Though, I was able to walk around a little bit yesterday and enjoy the quiet of the afternoon. That was nice.
We have visited Grasse (dirty) to see the perfumery museum. I think that and the chapel with three giant Rubens paintings are the only reasons for visiting Grasse. We also stopped in Pont du Loup to visit the candy factory. There isn't much else to see there. Soon I will take the kids to Nice and we will also go to Monaco and Tourettes Sur Loup
This weekend we will visit with gallery friends and Matt's sister from Germany and family. We are very much looking forward to meeting her children and letting the kids play together. It is a long awaited reunion with she and Matt and the first time we will meet as well. I will write more soon...Au revoir!

Portrait Project Changes

2010-02-02T09:04:00.000-08:00

In the coming weeks, the portrait painted project will implement some significant changes. First and foremost, the focus will shift from individual portraits (Phase I) to recreating historical paintings with individuals sourced from social networking sites (Phase II).

When I first started this project, I had no idea it would grow to the size and scale it has. But we went with it, setting a soft goal of 200 portraits seemed reasonable at the pace I was going, and since I was funding it on my own I could scale it down if time/money became an issue. As 2009 went on, I started thinking about the idea of recreating historical paintings with a modern twist – still sourced from the same participants of the portrait group - and started fundraising through Kickstarter, as well as seeking out grants to help support this new phase of the project financially. The paintings needed to be bigger and my closet home studio just wasn’t big enough and all the money raised would go towards a larger space.

The fundraising through Kickstarter was successful (thanks to supporters big and small) and I was awarded a small grant through the Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC) to continue Phase II of the project through 2010. Winsor & Newton came aboard as a materials sponsor and in November 2009, I was able to move into a studio space in Sunset Park. And, and obtained a residency in Vence, France for the month of April at Galerie Myra.

As most of you know, when I started this project, I was also a stay-at-home dad with a gorgeous baby girl (I am of course biased). I must admit, as much as I loved being at home with her and working out of the house, she needed more interaction with kids her own age and we were able to find her a spot in a wonderful little bi-lingual school not far from my studio. She’s learning Chinese and making wonderful friends and trust me when I say that when she runs to greet her teachers at drop off in the morning, I know we’ve made the right choice.

Enough about me, what does this mean for the group, etc? Essentially, I am scaling way back. It’s too much to manage two pages of friends a fan page and a group page. All were created to manage a quick influx of people excited about the opportunity of being painted, and that’s great, but it’s also exhausting. So I’ve had to make a choice. All the individual self-portraits in the project, with the exception of a few buyers, were done for free. Phase II of the project is financially supported (as in 80% of basic costs are covered through Kickstarter, BAC, and Winsor & Newton). As such, I owe it to the supporters to put forth my best artistic efforts to focus on that part of the project and see it to its end.

I have a few portraits that I am working on now, as well as the second painting of Phase II. Once those portraits are complete and posted, I will focus more on Phase II. Of course, if you are dying to have your portrait painted, I would not hesitate to be commissioned for one. AND, the completed portraits are definitely available to buy.

If you’d like to stick around and see how the second phase of the project unfolds, I encourage you to do so. I will still send calls for participation in Phase II through the group and profile page.

This past year has been a great adventure, and I appreciate all the kind words thrown my direction—even the bad words. That’s all for now—back to painting.

-Matt

First painting of Phase II complete

2010-01-25T13:04:00.000-08:00

I feel like I’ve been living like a hermit for the past few months. Better to save you from my misery and post less than post at all. After nearly three month of languishing over The Feast of Bacchus, it is complete. Nine portraits in one 5’ X 6’ piece, this particular feast is filled with volunteers from the portrait painted project and I’d like to thank each of them for participating. Rather than call them out individually, I’ll just say “you know who you are and thanks for being the first— of what I hope to be many—guinea pigs.”

For those of you who know me personally, you know I really hate waxing intellectual about art. I don’t feel you need a master’s degree to paint (obvious since I don’t have one) nor do I feel you need to know anything about art to appreciate and talk about it. Viewers should be able to look at something and say “I like this” or “this is fucking garbage” and that should be sufficient. However, what I would like for people to take away from any experience of seeing a painting they enjoy is a desire to see more, to learn more, to be inspired more. More. More. More.

History has left behind some fantastic artists and thus fantastic paintings. The original painting, found here, by Velazquez is by far one of my favorites from the Baroque painters. This painting is generally referred to as “The Drunkards” and the reason I chose this as the first painting in this part of the series is that Bacchus, in the world of mythology, is known as the god of wine, propagator of the grapevine and a provider of joy. Alcohol was then (as now) a much beloved rescue for the common man in the street, and as such Bacchus was considered to brighten the lives of ordinary people. It seemed fitting as a first choice for a project focused on painting the “every person” (I know I too grow tired of the quotations, but bare with me) enjoying a bit of rescue.

Of course, the other relevance I see is that as the individuals in the original are depicted congregating to eat, drink and be merry, so do we congregate daily on such social networking sites as Facebook, Twitter, etc. Yeah, yeah ok, so we don’t exactly eat or drink online, but in a figurative sense, we do. Coming together on a daily basis with people we may or may not know in life and soak up the excesses via an online social networking so to do we feast.

An honest, top 10 list of lessons learned in 2009

2010-01-02T12:55:00.000-08:00

2009 really was an amazing year for us at Held Studios, but it's always important for me to reflect on the things learned along the way in order to keep perspective on where we are today.

Let me set the stage for this post with a nod to a girl who's name I can't remember. She emailed us about half way through the year to ask Matt for advice on how to become a successful artist.

Right. Ok.

I am sure the response went something like this: "Paint everyday, and everyday you can't paint draw. Network. Do something that is relevant and will get people interested in your work. Seek out criticism from others, it's the only way you'll get better. And then, tell me what you think being successful means."

She wrote back, said thank you and that she would do just that. I don't think we heard from her again, but that's not why I make the reference. All the things mentioned above are true for most artistic endeavors - just substitute "paint" for write, dance, act...But defining success is really the most important piece of it all.

If you define success by consistently selling work, or being represented, or getting published, landing a part you really wanted, receiving a grant, or a performing in a solo show, then strive for that "success".

Some people may think this list is too honest, or maybe unproductive, but it is what it is. The reason I put it out there is because of one little virtue my parents tried to instill in me: humility. So take it for what it's worth, but here is our honest top 10 list of lessons learned from our success in 2009.

1: All the press in the world does not put food on the table. People have to buy your work in order to make money.
2: The art world is a fickle, fickle planet.
3: Even famous artists still have laundry to do on Saturday mornings, most of them do it themselves.
4: Trying to make money making art is not for the faint of heart.
5: Asking your fans for money can be incredibly rewarding and really frustrating.
6: The goal you set forth a month ago that seemed so easy to achieve might fail - not because it was easy, but because you can't control the universe and it's important to know that's ok!
7: Creativity is only half the operation. Remember you are a business, even when people treat you like you are twelve, you are still a business.
8: Everybody wants something for free. (see lesson #1 for emphasis)
9: Sometimes it's better to go to bed, wake up and start over.
10: Success is not defined in the same way for everyone, you have to define it for yourself.

I am sure there is much more I could add to this list. It would never be fully comprehensive or exhaustive because as we go along, we learn more and more.

2010 could be better than ever, but not if we don't set forth a new set of goals, keep lessons learned at an arm's reach and remember that success is measured by ones own ideals, not those of others.

Best of luck and good fortune to all of you this year!

Happy New Year! and goodbye to a great decade!

2009-12-26T09:26:00.000-08:00

As we wrap up Christmas and look into the new year, there are a few things I wanted to say. First of all, 2009 was filled with firsts, all of them great and too many to mention, but I will say that the most important first is that right now, I am more pleased to be in New York than I could have imagined.
Four years ago, my wife said: "Let's just do it. Let's sell the house and move to Brooklyn." I admittedly thought she was kidding, but if I know my wife at all, her most solid quality is that of conviction. Once she sets her mind to something there is no stopping her.
We met in 2000 at a bar (she was dating an acquaintance who later set us up after their breakup). We married after a quick courtship and my life has been all the better since (I hope she says the same).
She is the driving force behind the success of this project and so aside from thanking all of you for the support and kind words over the past year, I need to thank her for her undying support, unwavering faith in my ability to be a successful artist and most of all, loving me. I look forward to another decade of firsts for each of our careers and our children.
Happy New Year!

Squirrels

2009-11-08T07:15:00.000-08:00

I am sitting in the rocking chair that I have so poorly taken care of over the years since Otto was born and staring out the window. Why is this significant you ask? Well, it's important because the chair is in the exact position as Matt's easel was just a week ago. This room was his studio, but now, it's my reading room. I LOVE my reading room. You will not find me out of this room for weeks, maybe months even. In the years since Matt and I have been together, he has controlled any extra space with his paintings, painting tools, easels, paints, you name it. I know you feel bad for me right? You should. It's hard to be a dedicated wife, supporting every act of creative reach your husband desires.
Oh, you want to know about the new studio space? It's pretty awesome! And it's not in the house. It's conveniently located over the hill and on the other side of Greenwood Cemetery in Sunset Park. We got an amazing deal on rent and the size is just perfect. Phase II has started and if you haven't been following along it works pretty simply. Matt posts an idea for a painting on a status update, you email him at mattheldproject@gmail.com if you'd like to participate and either he "casts" you for the project, or doesn't. If he does, you do as he asks with your camera and creativity and submit a photo by the deadline. Then he gets to put the pieces of the random people posing together and make it a masterpiece. Sounds simple right? Cool.
Well, while all you folks are chomping at the bit to be a part of it, I will be staring out my reading room window at the squirrels climbing up the tree across the street!

Posting Light

2009-10-27T05:51:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Matt and I have been busy with getting so many different things organized - lecture in Savannah, finding a new studio space, making daycare arrangements for the youngest, getting organized for a spring show, finishing up the details from Kickstarter, finding a printer for the rewards. Phew! We have lots to tell you and I promise to post something interesting, witty, and shocking soon! Stay tuned Internet!

Kickstart my heart

2009-10-01T16:48:00.001-07:00

So internet - I have not been neglecting you but various new things in my life have taken precedent over updating this blog such as planning for Phase II, submitting two grants for Phase II, fund raising on Kickstarter.com for Phase II, applying for a NYFA fellowship for Matt, planning a school fund raiser, planning for a trip to France in the Spring (Matt got invited to do a residency in Vence for the month of April), working full time, trying to find studio space that is "affordable", sleeping, and loving on two kids. The last mentioned being the most important because for every little thing we do - the driving force is those two little faces.
"Matt Held: facebook portraits" at Denise Bibro Fine Art, comes down this Saturday at 6:00PM. If you haven't had a chance to check it out, you should do so, like now. You could ask us if the show was successful. I would say yes, and no. We've received some wonderful feedback, but the economy still sucks and nothing has sold. That's part of the reason for launching the Kickstarter project, but also because the budget for this piece of the project is much larger. It will require a larger space for Matt to work in and more volunteers from the group.
Kickstarter is a web platform for creative types looking to fund projects - kind of like a micro-patronage networking site. Artists are quite limited to either sales of work, grants or both and let's face it - when sales are down, more people are competing for the same grants. Kickstarter gives us a chance to connect directly to people who can spare $10, but not a $1,000 in support of an artist working on a project they believe in. Sounds good right?
So yeah, Phase II needs space, much more space, but if you pledge your support, you also get some cool stuff in return, like an exclusive print, or a drawing from the portrait project. Check it out - pledge period ends October 14th.

Many Thanks!

2009-09-13T17:10:00.000-07:00

I wanted to thank the lot of you who were able to make it to Thursday's opening! It was a great turnout and the installation looked fantastic! The show is up through October 3rd, and if you didn't make it to the opening, I hope you get a chance to see the show between now and then.
I am working diligently from now through the end of the year to finish up the first phase of this project and will be announcing the exact details for what will happen in phase II as I get closer to the transition. Stay tuned!

Words on a Portrait - Sharon A

2009-08-24T17:35:00.001-07:00

Ok. I am kind of cheating on this one. Sharon Arnold is the subject in "Sharon A". She is also an artist, curator, and all around good kind of gal (or so we've gleaned after some back and forth emails and mutual "friends"). She threatened to write a post on her Dimensions Variable blog a while back and around the same time my google alert came through today telling me it was up, she sent Matt and email as well (yes - I am a total google nerd and have all sorts of google alerts set up for various things. I am like a google alert collector but we can talk about that another time).
Anyway. Back to cheating. I love what she wrote and so instead of asking her to write something specific for this blog, I will link her page and quote her.
My favorite? ..." the New Portraiture. We're invited into the scene, the stories are curious, and the pictures are snapshots of real lives; often drafted by the subject themselves. We want to know more about them, most likely because we are like them. Rather than some lofty idealised representation of culturally enforced perfection, potraiture has become not only an exaggeration of the idea but also a Cinéma vérité, a hipster editorial, a perversion, a study in heightened banality, an idea of excess, a reflection of ourselves; or at it's best, a really fun study of people finding each other in a living web of connectivity."
You can read the rest of her post here.

Words on a Portrait - Konstantin

2009-08-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

I think sometimes the simplest photograph has more power than the complex. The original photo - later to become the portrait "Kontantin" was so simple - a glance caught in such a beautiful environment with such vibrant colors captured Matt right away.
Konstantin sent us a note with a little story behind the photo. Here are his words:

The photo [was] taken on the 1st of January this year in Chamonix, France. To be excact, on top of the Aiguille du Midi, at about 3800 meters. We had had a long night before, starting to celebrate New Year's eve early in the evening. At ten, we had "Happy New Year" for the first time with the Russian group from the apartment next to ours, who were celebrating in Moscow time.
The next day, no one really wanted to go skiing, so we went up every sightseeing point we could reach by cable car or train around Chamonix. It was really cold up there, around -20° C and a lot of wind, so I was happy to have this old down jacket with me.
A last word to the goggles: The goggles have been up the Aiguille du Midi once before, about 30 years ago, when my father was ski mountaineering in Chamonix.

Artist on the radar

2009-08-12T06:05:00.000-07:00

I often think of topics for random posts on my way into work in the morning. If I can’t think of something clear and concise I will think of two or three words to drop into google, do news runs on those two or three words and see what comes up. Today, I did just that. I dropped in “portrait painting” to the search bar and clicked the “news” tab and up came a few articles on the Mona Lisa Incident, some other random portrait painting articles and this one.
It somehow seemed familiar, maybe something I should already know about, so I click in and discover it’s about a recent graduate from VCU – Stanley Rayfield. The thing is, I do know of Stanley Rayfield. He sent us an email last week asking if Matt had any advice for a recent fine art graduate. We took a look at his website and all we could say was WOW! The guy can paint! I mean he can really, really paint! What advice could he give him? MOVE TO NEW YORK!
There are very few people in this world that walk out of their undergraduate university – a degree in fine art at hand – that see their future as bright as I hope Stanley realizes his is. I wish him all the best and I hope HOPE to see his work in person very, very soon. Congratulations on the Smithsonian exhibition, Stanley.

35 Pieces

2009-07-27T06:42:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful studio visit with the gallerists from Denise Bibro Fine Art last week. They went through each piece in the collection so far and chose 35 pieces for the upcoming show at their Platform Project Space. I love the idea for how they are going to hang the show and I think it will be very arresting for viewers.
As such, we have a lot of work to do to get all of them ready for exhibit which means a bit less time for working on new pieces. However, we are diligently pulling fresh photos from member profiles for new paintings and hope to have at least 3-5 posted before the end of August.

"Matt Held: facebook portraits", opening on Thursday, September 10, 2009 from 6:00PM - 9:00PM, will run through October 3, 2009. In the main gallery, "Johnny Madsen: Red, Yellow and the Blues" will be on exhibit.

WIRED!

2009-07-20T13:50:00.001-07:00

We are all a-twitter over here at Held Studios for August's WIRED magazine. Not because of Brad Pitt, but because Matt and his fancy pants got a nice little mention in print and online.
I am not sure what else to say but - WOW! If my body could sprout wings and fly around, I would totally let it. Instead, I'll just bounce of the walls for a little bit and say thank you to Sonia Zjawinski for contacting us way back in March, pushing her editors to let her write the story and having a cool photo for Matt to paint (who doesn't love a woman chugging a bottle of wine? Who is ask you? Who?).
Monday went from zero to hero!

Words on a Portrait - Oliver

2009-07-17T09:30:00.000-07:00

Oliver Perera is a British UOTC. Here are his words:

"The picture was taken during my recruit training phase with Oxford University Officer Training Corps, one of 19 UOTCs covering the UK (similar to America’s ROTCs). UOTCs have two aims, firstly to develop and train potential Army officers (regular and territorial) alongside their University studies with the aim of them going to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst for their officer training. Secondly, UOTCs are unique in that they are comprised of students many of whom have no intention of joining the Army, so they also intend to provide the potential business leaders of tomorrow with valuable insight into what the Army is like. With the hope that in the future they have better understanding of issues facing the Army, and an understanding of what ex-soldiers moving to a civilian life have done were they to one day to employ one or work alongside one in their company.

The photo was taken at the end of a particularly wet and cold Christmas camp on Salisbury Plains. It was actually taken around 10am but a mixture of cloud cover, forest blocks and the photographer using the camera's flash made the photo appear to be taken during the night.

The photo was taken by one of the Sergeant Majors who had brought his camera along to take some photos of us “in action” to put up on the unit's website. After we had finished doing some posed photos I was still aware he was taking photos but I didn’t noticing him taking this one hence I wasn’t posing which I think has led to a good photo, and now and even better painting by Matt."

Solution identified

2009-07-17T07:11:00.000-07:00

After we posted yesterday's note about Facebooks "friend" limit we received some good feedback from group members about which direction to go. As such, we've decided that taking a more critical approach to the process of accepting requests - as opposed to starting a new profile page - would be the best way to go forward. Unfortunately it means laying down a rule that excludes anyone under the age of 18. I know it's kind of a sucky thing to do, but operating a project that is self-funded, and includes the use of a free social networking platform, has limitations. While we find the limitation to be silly (why is this a problem for Facebook engineers, but not MySpace?) it is what it is and we have to deal with it the best we can.

Going forward you can join the group and then request Matt's friendship. Whether or not you are accepted will be based on the content of your default photo and whatever information we can see on your page that intrigues us to look further into your profile photo album. From there, the usual parameters apply to the process of choosing a photo for the project. See Q & A post. If you are not accepted, please don't take it personally! We will continue to post new images of the portraits, however, all will be made from the "Matt Held page" so that everyone can see and no one will be excluded. We will also moderate that page less so you are able to post notes, ask questions, etc.

This project has really turned into so much more than either of us could have expected. We make a great team and we both believe very strongly in the message of the project and love that it's been so well received by the digital community. We thank you for your patience, kind words, and support! Remember that this project will likely take two years to complete and while Matt has completed 56 portraits, he still has another 146 to go!

The 5,000 friend limit and what that means for this project

2009-07-16T09:56:00.000-07:00

Not long ago, I was made aware that Facebook has a limit (the engineers call it a scaling limitation) on the amount of “friends” a Facebook user can have. The limit is 5,000. We at Matt Held Studios have been racking our brains on how best to work around this as my friend list is nearing 5,000 and have yet to come up with a clear, concise way to deal with the issue. I wanted to let you know that while we want to be as inclusive as possible to people interested in participating in this project, I need as much free time in the studio as I can get. Being bogged down with administrative work will only slow the progress of the project and I’d like to avoid that as much as possible.

The way this project is set up is a) you join the group b) you add me as a friend. Once you’ve done those two things, I go through profiles of those “friends” whose default photo intrigues me to look further into your profile photo album. Then, a few more things happen a) I add the chosen photo to the queue and b) contact you when I am ready to start the piece c) post an image of the completed photo to the group page and d) email the subject their respective jpeg. Being my “friend” is key to access your images and allows me to choose the image. I do not want to give this part of the process up.

I have two possible solutions to the issue:

1. People continue to join the group page as desired but start being more selective as to who I add as my friends based on their default image. This would also mean going through existing “friends” and deleting those who do not have photos fitting within the parameters of this particular project - i.e. no kids, no dogs, no significant others, clear, color photo, quirky poses, props acceptable. This would allow me to manage one profile and allow active participants in the project to remain as part of the project. It would also mean “rejecting” people and I don’t really like that idea.

2. Start up a second Facebook page – call it Matt Held Studios – and direct all new friend requests, after 5,000 has been achieved, to that page. This would create a bit more work for me and my administrators – maintaining two pages and making sure people are directed to the right area, both pages get updated, etc., but this way I don’t have to eliminate people from the project.

I am not sure what the best option is, but hope to reach a decision within the next few days.

That said I do want to make you all aware that I have also been working on what my follow up to this project will be. I am not ready to disclose full details; however, regardless of whether or not one of your profile photos is chosen to be painted, I hope you stick around as group members to find out. It will be something you can all participate in if you have a camera.

Until then, hope life is treating you well.

Words on a Portrait - "Lauren"

2009-07-05T07:06:00.000-07:00

Happy day after the fourth of July! We have a nice short post from "Lauren". It is one of my favorite portraits. The color, the light, the cool, refreshing looking beverage on a seemingly hot day. Lauren was kind enough to say a few words about the original photo and here they are:

"This is a rare picture of me taken with my camera. Normally, I'm the one behind the lens and this instance is an exception to that rule. I was in Guatemala for the wedding of two dear friends and the ceremony had just ended. I am drinking a delicious mojito and I would proceed to drink a few more after this one. The weather was perfect, the wedding was beautiful and the night was a late one. I won't forget it.

The portrait that Matt painted from this photograph is lovely. I feel happy to have contributed to this amazing project."

Words on a Portrait - "Barbara"

2009-06-29T06:15:00.001-07:00

"Every painting tells a story.
Here comes mine...

The profile picture Matt painted of me is showing me in a thoughtful posture, which is just how I feel lately, call it midlife-crisis, I don't know... It was the day of my birthday, I was watching my guests talking to each other. I was sitting there, just watching them, listening. I remember it very well. The room was full, but I was on my own. My husband took the photo, Matt painted it. That makes the portrait important to me.

A frozen moment in time. (Isn't the past, the life on which you look back, a collection of single moments frozen in your memory? Are we able to re-live or re-imagine longer periods like a week ? a day? an hour? second by second by second? No! We hop from moment to moment, good or bad, but always important for some reason.)

Matt Held and I are half brother and sister. We got to know each other only when we were almost grown-ups. One day, maybe ten years ago, when social networking was still to be invented in a larger scale, we started an email-correspondence that lasted for more than a year. But that's a different story.

When I joined his Facebook-group last year there were about 43 group-members. To be honest, the thought of being portrayed caused strange sensations of embarrassment in me, but as the group grew larger and larger and the number of beautiful finished portraits too, my opinion changed. With joy I watched the wave of enthusiasm the project was arousing among the facebook-users. Who could have expected this?

There were quite a few articles in the press and web, that talked about the phenomena of social networking lately. Painting has been a big subject too over the last years. Since Matt Held's facebook-project seemed to be the first that treated both as one, the echo it evoked was: this is brand new, hot! People loved it! Why? Because it was so personal! But it works on different levels.

While my first approach to it was personal and intimate too, the project as a whole at the same time turned out to be so relevant for many. It is fresh, open minded and actual, touching the reality and existence of every person who takes part in today's decade-changing progress, meaning the internet-based communication, which influences the social behavior and every day habits so evidently. The computer screen is the window to the world indeed, and it has become a means for reaching out. You look at me, I look at you and your friends... and: the artist looks at the model.

Why did Matt portray his wife's facebook-pic? He could have portrayed her sitting in front of her doing sketches. Instead he chose do do it from her fb-pic. The creative move behind that is clear to see. A bridge from 18th century to today. But still there is always a story behind. And a special moment."

Words on a Portrait - "Angie"

2009-06-23T17:40:00.000-07:00

Everyone loves a cute girl in a monster costume. There was no question about painting Angie. She lives in Denver with our good friend Jason (aka Sharpie nose) and it's no surprise that she is super cute and super smart. I met her once when they came to visit a couple years ago. I think the funniest thing about the painting is that "don't fuck with me" look. She is such a graceful, calming presence that looking at her painting makes me wonder how much more to her there is that most people probably don't see.
She was kind enough to send us the story of the photo and some of her thoughts on the project and here are her words:

"When this picture was taken I was at an art opening for the Horndribbles—soft sculpture art by a couple of Denver artists. There was a guy walking around in an amazing Horndribble costume and I asked if I could try on the head. Normally I feel so awkward in photographs (and it shows) but somehow having that big, fuzzy monster head on made me relax enough for the photo to turn out well and become a picture of myself I actually like.

I feel really honored to have been part of the project. I never thought I'd have an opportunity to have my portrait painted and to have it done from a photograph that I love and makes me laugh has made the experience even better. I think of portraiture traditionally as art of the upper class and while I've seen beautiful portraits, I tend to think of them as serious and stuffy. In contrast, the portraits of the project are not only wonderful in an artistic sense, they are also so unexpected. Because they are done from photos they seem almost the opposite of traditional portraits—a lot of them portray things that you couldn't pose for, moments that only a camera could capture. That they were moments captured in a photo and then again in paint makes them all the more whimsical. It would be amazing to see all the portraits in person, all together in one space, and to be able to ask the subjects what they were trying to express about themselves by posting that particular photo to Facebook for the world to see."

Solo Show - Denise Bibro Fine Art Platform Project Space

2009-06-18T13:17:00.000-07:00

We have some very exciting news to share! Matt will be having his 1st solo show, opening Thursday, September 10th at Denise Bibro Fine Art, Platform Project Space in Chelsea. I'll confirm all the details once we get all ducks in a row, but this is huge and we couldn't be more thrilled!
Stay tuned!

Words on a Portrait - "Elis"

2009-06-12T17:25:00.000-07:00

Elis Wooton is a student at NYU Wagner. She is a goofy girl, with a lot of brains and a spunky personality. When I first saw her photo, I told Matt he absolutely HAD to paint it. I think it is my favorite one even to this day. It just reminds me of those special moments when you are hanging out with friends on a weekend, enjoying life. I smile and laugh every time I see it, and that to me adds so much more to the experience of being with her portrait.

Here is what Elis had to say about being involved in the project and the story behind the photo:

"I think it is a really interesting idea to further connect people through fine art on a virtual social network.... creating a community where there was not one before. I think it could be a really great show ... all the portraits in a gallery space. I think the fact that over 3,000 people have joined the group so far is a testament how rad the project is and how everyone secretly wants to be immortalized in one way or another.

I don't really want to wax on about what I think it 'means' though... I'm sure that [people] advocate for what it means in an artistic sense. I am no art critic but I love my portrait.

I'm not going to lie... when I saw my name on the short list for portraits people would want on their walls I was pretty stoked...

The picture was taken in Costa Rica when I was snorkeling with a couple of my best lady friends. We all took silly pictures of each other with our masks on. I just happened to use mine as my profile picture..."

Museum Week, July 1st through 6th

2009-06-03T12:41:00.001-07:00

It happens this time every year. We try to save for vacation, but the savings usually gets depleted by "incidentals" before we've had a chance to take it. Such is the case this year and so this time, instead of resting on our laurels, I've decided to make the stay-cation a more productive one. From July 1st through July 6th, we will be visiting one museum a day for six days. New York is filled with local institutions that thrive on tourist dollars and endowments to sustain themselves. It's no surprise that most of them are suffering cut backs due to the current economic climate and so I've decided that our vacation will not just be about taking a break from work and watching fireworks in honor of our freedom, rather, it will be about supporting local arts institutions. Therefore, I dub July 1st through the 6th the unofficial "Museum Week".
We've lived here for three years and have never been able to dedicate the necessary amount of time to visit the Guggenheim, PS 1, NewMuseum, the Met, MOMA, Brooklyn Art Museum, the Whitney, the Rubin, American Folk Art Museum. So take out the ones I frequent (the Met, MOMA, Brooklyn Art Museum, Museum of Natural History) and you get a week chalk full of visual stimuli. Personally, I can think of nothing more patriotic during the week of the 4th than supporting such great American institutions.
Matt and I are going to put focus on spending time at each studying portraiture and I will be sending tweets and posting messages as we go along. Should be fun, and certainly feel free to join in at your locale. Time off or not, there are always lunch hours and after work to visit your local museum.
Follow along on Twitter with #museumweek

Words on a Portrait - "Adrian"

2009-05-29T08:18:00.000-07:00

Happy to present to you the next guest post for Words on a Portrait, Adrian Linton. Adrian is a great friend of ours and was maybe the 4th or 5th portrait to be completed. We met Adrian over Christmas 2001 when he became engaged to my best-friend, Lisa Harvey. The four of us, pre-kids, would spend many nights together drinking wine and scotch, playing scrabble and arguing over whether or not "latexundies" was a viable scrabble word (the ladies say no and we usually won the argument). Since moving to New York, we've stayed in close contact with the Linton's and usually try to see each other once a year, either meeting upstate at a rented cabin or along the waterways of Puget Sound - it's a nice escape from the dolldrums of city living for both families and something we hope to continue to do with them until we are old - playing Scrabble, arguing over viable words, watching our grandchildren play together…I asked Adrian if he could write something about how he felt being involved in the project and what the project means to him in addition to the story behind the photo. Here is his response:

This is a picture of me at work. At the time of the photo I was in the throws of multiple rounds of layoffs in my company (one every quarter). I remember feeling like a chochke in one of those Claw Toy Grabber machines, just waiting my turn for the pincers to drop around me. The New York Observer described this image as a, “maudlin-looking fellow enveloped in a pair of giant headphones.” Maudlin...Self-pitying? Perhaps at the time, yes, but now (after surviving 5 rounds of layoffs, so far) I am thankful I still have a job and look to the future calmly (Zoloft helps). Excessively sentimental? Maybe years down the road when our economy gets out of the shit box, but for now I think there are a lot of people out there who share what I was feeling.
As for how I got into the project, I have been good friends with Matt since 2001, and always been an avid supporter of his work. When he approached me about a new project involving Facebook profile pictures, I did what any good friend would do, “sure, have at me.” Little did I know what a success this project would become and that my portrait would be viewed with interest outside the context of my Facebook profile. As for this project and what it means to me? I think its success is a celebration of technology and its ability to level the social playing field to access and expression of information. As Matt has once said, "Portraiture was always for the elite, for the rich.” Thanks to a couple of zebibytes of 0’s and 1’s, everyone across the globe can visually express who they are. Matt simply closed the cultural circle by painting those digital expressions in a classical medium. Chochke out.

“Status Update” Recap

2009-05-20T13:44:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday, we ventured up to Haskins Laboratories in New Haven for the opening of “Status Update” and for the “Big Love” panel with Matt, Paddy Johnson, An Xiao, Sharon Butler, and Sharon Kleinman. While I couldn’t hear much of the discussion, (wrangling a loud 10 month old in the midst of 50+ intent listeners does not make for an attentive wife/spectator) I did walk away with some perspective on what I feel is a new direction for artists – albeit a venturesome few at the moment. I’ve tried to think of a couple words that sum up what seems to be happening in the exploration of social media, as both a medium and an avenue for artists, and very simply put it is “social collaboration” – artists using either the attention of, or the activity of, digital social masses to make art.

What makes social collaboration so unique? It absolutely depends on a digital audience or a digital source to make it happen. Could Rachel Perry Welty have completed a 16 hour long performance project in which she update her Facebook status every minute answering the question “what are you doing” without a social mass? Not likely since it was centered on Facebook and performances inherently need an audience – those being the individuals subscribed as her “friends”. And what about An Xiao? Her work is entirely Twitter centric, even if a few postcards exist in the physical realm. Though Matt's portrait project produces physical portraits, they are sourced from a social mass and is somewhat dependent on the openness of it’s participants. It’s likely I need to flush this idea out a little more and when I get some time, I might do just that. The suggestion of a movement with artists as social collaborators may be a bit premature, but I suspect it might be worth a bit more thought.

Your thoughts?

Words on a Portrait - "Bobby"

2009-05-15T11:43:00.000-07:00

A while back I thought it would be a good idea to bring the followers of this project and blog a bit more information on the individuals that have been the subject of portraits thus far and a bit of history on the photos that were chosen for remediation.
Thus, as the first installment to "Words on a Portrait", I am please to introduce you to Bobby Grossman, a photographer whose body of work is one of the most important documents of the punk rock, new wave/no wave scene of the seventies and eighties.
Here is what he had to say:

Immediately after graduation from college in 1976 I moved back to New York. I rented an apartment at the Chelsea Hotel for a year or so and then moved down to Union Square. Up the block from me was the bank, my photo lab, Max's Kansas City, Andy Warhol's Factory and my new friend Chris Von Wangenheim.

My college room mate relocated from to Chicago and worked as Chris' assistant up until Chris' untimely death.

Some times on my way about my morning routine I would stop in on Chris and Nick and everyone to say HI and witness their planning for the afternoons photo shoot.

I might have phoned ahead first and brought along morning McDonalds and coffee too.

It was not uncommon for me to sit in a chair in front of the seemless and play "high fash-un model" as I began to wake up.

The routine was that to prepare for a days work a text roll or two was needed to indicate the levels for exposure and test the lights and color saturation or whatever. I'm not too techinquely knowledgeable but a few rolls were shot and then taken to Dugal color labs up the block off Fifth Avenue.

So freshly (or not) rolled outta bed with Greek coffee cup or Egg McMuffin in hand I would proceed to hold up fingers as Chris would begin the test rolls with the strobes flashing away.
Thumbs up or down, one, two (peace sign) etc.- get it...

When the test was complete we would walk the film up the block maybe get more coffee and the NY Post and wait for the results.

So here I am with my VOGUE cover shot. When worlds collide, PUNK rock and high-fash-un. This is 1980 so the rest is history.

I learned a lot from Chris. Like many others he is gone but his test portraits live on (in his memory.)

Fashion- turn to the left..fashion turn to the right... Gabba gabba hey etc.

Bobby's work is currently on exhibition at the MINA Gallery through July 14th, 2009.

Last day for play

2009-05-07T18:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok. I am not an artist. My husband is. I have not a artistic bone in my body. However, I do like to write, love it really. And so, when An Xiao started @Platea, I got it. She's a multi-media artist, working with photography and Haiku's (and a little morse code from time to time) but I identify most with her word-play. Not so long ago she started a performance collective primarily based in, and on, social networking platforms. @Platea is "a collective of individuals interested in the power of public art carried out in the digital megacity of social media," as per it's bio. Naturally, when she started @Platea, I thought it would be fun and certainly wanted to be a part of it, that is, when I have the time. Simply put, the @Platea collective are people using twitter and facebook doing interesting things with words.
I like Twitter, but only if I have something interesting to say, or if someone else has something interesting for me to read. It's not that often that I have something interesting to say (evident in that I only post here every other week) queue - Co-Modify, @Platea's second "twerformance".
Essentially, participants were enticed to choose a rather large corporation to be fictionally sponsored by. I chose Microsoft. Don't ask me why, I can't tell you. But it may have something to do with growing up in the Seattle area and having nearly everything in my existence somehow touched on by Microsoft. I also could have chosen Boeing, or Starbucks, or WAMU (it's downfall not withstanding). Microsoft was the first to come to mind and I went with it.
As I started to think about how to structure my "twerformance", I could only think to go to their site and look at their product list. I found, that, astonishingly, it's fairly short. It's not a grocery store for products, but what they do do creates a base line for nearly everything we do online. I thought, well, maybe I should kind of deconstruct the brand, as in, let my posts be almost everything that Microsoft isn't. I think my first post was "If Microsoft were a packaged food for the home office, I would eat it," followed with "Microsoft laundry detergent leaves my clothes feeling soft and cuddly!" Not all have been absurd, some have been relevant to the companies product list, or failures of. Clearly Microsoft is not food, nor laundry detergent. BUT! If I were actually sponsored by Microsoft, I would want it to be an encompassing life brand. I love computers. In fact, I spend way too much time on computers at work and at home. If I were to be sponsored by a company, I would want it to be so much more than computer software. I am a mother, with two kids and so aside from the computer exhaustion, I cook and do laundry and try to take a yoga class once a week.
Brand building, marketing spend - companies trying to gain a larger part of the market share come up with more cockamamie ideas than packaging computer software as a packaged grocery item, or a yoga mat, that is for certain.
Co-Modify's last day is tomorrow and I look forward to the other 40-some participant posts, and the confusion that it brings to my Facebook friends. In the mean time, I must retire to my Microsoft pillow and sleep.

Post and News

2009-04-24T05:56:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the lack of posts over the past few weeks. It has been a bit of a clumsy April. A few days of convalescing from a thrown out back (who knew a sneeze could take one out so quickly), a few days visit from the parents, and another few days vacation. I just realized that it's nearly May already - hot days ahead - and I've lacked keeping you up-to-date on this blog. Posting on Facebook is sometimes a bit easier as we are always on, and lengthier posts, well, they take more time.
That said, a couple of things:
1). This article is awesome and a must read. I love hearing that portraiture is making a comeback and is "cool" again. It makes all our efforts that much more worthwhile.

2). Status Update, an exhibition that explores the use of emerging social networking technologies, featuring works by Kevin Van Aelst, Cat Balco, Sharon Butler, Heather Freeman, Greg Garvey, Matt Held, Keith Johnson, Katie Ring, Jeremiah Teipen, Lee Walton, Rachel Perry Welty and An Xiao, curated by Debbie Hesse and Donna Ruff, will be having the opening reception on Thursday, May 14th from 5-7 at Haskins Lab/ Yale, New Haven, CT. I am psyched to be featured on a panel with Paddy Johnson of Art Fag City, Sharon Kleinman (author of Displacing Place), and An Xiao from That Was Zen and Twartist extraordinare (I believe she will be posting live twitter feeds of the panel discussion for those who can't attend). I hope the local folks came make it. It's a great mix of artists using social networking to look at and analyze the way we communicate and express our "selves" in the digital age.

3). A short documentary of this project, with interviews from a few folks that have been remediated, will be posted in a few weeks on babelgum.com (will send link to the video and more details soon). A special thanks to Alex, Lance and Nick for coming to our house at 3:45 AM on a Saturday morning. I, admittedly, make great coffee (it's a must when getting up at 4:00AM on a regular basis), but I am sure you'd have rather been sleeping!

4). I expect a few features coming in two German zines over the next couple months, and one large US mag in either June or July. Sorry, not giving full details on that one just yet.

5). I've been thinking about posting guest posts over the next couple months. Maybe, thoughts on portraiture from those in the know, and short responses on the history of the photos from those that have been chosen and remediated for this project. We get a lot of requests to see the original photos and I thought this might be a nice way for our members to see them and learn a bit more about them.

6). The weather is going to be taking a turn in the right direction this weekend for us New Yorker's - I hope you all enjoy it while it's here. Happy Spring!

Richard Brilliant

2009-04-01T12:07:00.000-07:00

I've been reading a book, Portraiture by Richard Brilliant, and found his ending sentence to be quite relevant to this project and wanted to share...

“Indeed, before long, one may expect that instead of an artist’s profile portrait the future will preserve only complete actuarial files, stored in some omniscient computer, ready to spew forth a different kind of personal profile, beginning with one’s Social Security number. Then, and only then, will portraiture as a distinctive genre of art disappear.”

It's kind of one of those heady books - required reading for a master's class in modern portraiture maybe. You pick it up, read a passage and pull one or two great sentences from it and think about what he's said in terms of what is happening right now in social media and the promotion of a visual self. If you are so inclined to pick something like this up, it may be worth you while.

It's not as quiet as it seems

2009-03-28T18:10:00.000-07:00

I have been trying to put together a list, of everything I have to do on a daily basis, over the past couple of days and have been a bit unsuccessful at keeping everything together. Trying to manage two kids, a house, and getting in as much studio time as possible while recovering from throwing my back out is physically kicking my ass. I am admittedly behind, but the good news is, all has not been lost.
About 6 of the paintings will be part of a group show at New Haven Arts, New Haven, CT, opening May 15th - more details to follow. Also, a super secret piece in a super secret publication will be coming out this summer.
Joelle is also working on putting something together that would allow everyone to take a piece of the project home with them, and not just online. It may be a shot in the dark, but it's a pretty cool idea, and we both hope it will be visible to the masses by the end of the year.
Stay tuned!

a few things

2009-03-19T03:35:00.001-07:00

A couple things have caught my eye in the past few days. Most important is the post on Carnegie Mellon's Technology in the Arts blog on Social Media being an alternative exhibition space. Mr. Vannatter notes the change that is brewing in crowd sourcing being an acceptable area from which artists work from. I couldn't agree more!
The New York Times review on Shepard Fairey's retrospective at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston reports that he will follow this up with a spring campaign at Saks in NY - yes you will be able to get your very own limited edition handbag! While I love handbags, really - obsessed - it makes me wonder if this is artistic exploration or exploitation. I think it's the latter and I have many thoughts on this, but feel free to share yours with me.
Hrag Vartanian and An Xiao hosted a "twitterview" on none other than Twitter last night. Very interesting to watch unfold! Other than having to refresh my screen every minute or so to see the replies, it was pretty enjoyable. But, it makes me wonder: how much information can be conveyed over a series of 140 character posts?
That's all for now as the baby is tugging at my feet and crying for ... something!

On Social Networking

2009-03-10T06:24:00.000-07:00

A question has come up repeatedly over the past few weeks: "who are you represented by?" and the answer is: "no one." It's true! We may have cracked the code in how to achieve recognition for Matt's work via social networking, but this is only part of the puzzle. For years he has put together a body of work - say 12 paintings - and put together submission packets to send out to galleries only to wait months for the rejection letters to come in. They are all kept neatly in a binder titled "REJECTION".
I have always suspected that trying to get in with a gallery is playing the game of "who you know" as Joanne Mattera recently posted. I guess the question is, will this project fall under the ears and eyes of those who care enough to bring it that much further into the seemingly impenetrable art market, or will we continue to get recognition from art bloggers and the MSM? Should we be content with the occasional commission and/or sale of a finished portrait and call this project a success? I don't know the right answer, but I do think about it constantly.
In all honesty, recognition from galleries and inquiries from them about representation is a mark of validation for any artist, and Matt is no different. Today's artist are churned out of University MFA program's in such a formulaic manner that it is very difficult to be recognized as an artist if you don't follow the same path. When Matt and I met, I was working for a contemporary arts center in Seattle as an assistant curator and associate producer. Nearly every artist we exhibited was stamped with modicum approval just by graduating an MFA program. It's not to say that hard work and dedication to your education should mean less, but the lack of having that degree should not hinder ones ability to progress either.
As the art market continues to feel the impact of the deepening recession, gallerists, dealers, and critics, I feel, should look to what the artists are doing in areas of social media because that's where the buzz is, and I suspect, that's where it will remain. Clearing their shelves of emerging artists and sticking to the old standby only hinders the progress of art. The long-term effects of stagnation in terms of arts' progress are far greater than taking a risk on a relatively unknown, unstamped artist. Call it what you will, but I think we are all trying to connect with one another to make something out of this economic mess that is relatively positive, innovative, and uplifting. Progress only exists if people make it.

Back to Work

2009-03-09T07:52:00.000-07:00

A rainy Monday morning won't stop the process. It was such a nice weekend with spring-like weather. Matt's talk went well on Saturday night, especially for his first time ever speaking in front of an attentive audience. A great turn-out all the way around - although sorry some of our non-1stFan fans weren't able to come upstairs. Hopefully we will have another public engagement soon.
Two portraits are finding their homes this week and we are certainly filling the space with new ones. Portrait # 36, "Jordy" was finished yesterday and posted this morning. The buzz that has been building over the past few weeks will hopefully quiet down a bit so Matt can get back in the studio for productive painting time and I can get back to profile viewing, photo selection, and some over due administrative tasks. More soon, I promise!

March 1st

2009-03-01T18:16:00.000-08:00

Dear blog readers,
My apologies for not posting anything recently. I have been trying to figure out how to type numbers in all caps and have failed. The group is now over 2,600 members and instead of drinking myself into a stupor, I have been busy in the studio. I finished a few portraits this weekend and the last of the three needs to dry before I shoot it. I tried taking a photo today and there were hot spots all over the place.
Have I told you all that I am not a professional photographer? Not that it matters because Joelle is the fancy pants photo gal and renders them ready for the web. She does a smashing job don't you think? Although, we purchased one of those mini laptops today because paint was mysteriously appearing on the Mac keys and after she fired me, I suggested a mini would probably work better for the studio since both the studio and the new computer are equally puny. She kind of freaked when she saw what some of the images of the paintings looked like on the new computer. "A little too vibrant, I think" was what she said, but in all regards, they are just photos and until I can get them shot professionally, that is how they will remain. That said, the 40 or so who have RSVP'd to the Brooklyn Art Museum for the talk with 1stFans on Saturday, March 7th, will get to see 5 or 6 of them. I am fairly certain which ones I will bring, but this last one I am working on may throw a monkey in that wrench. We shall see. I am looking forward to seeing you all and hope you have some great questions. I will try not to throw up on your shoes.
I wanted to say hello to all the new members. Thank you. I really do try to make an effort to respond to your notes, but sometimes, I just can't. I do, however, read them all and appreciate all the kind words about the work and this project.

Narcissist? Nah!

2009-02-20T13:50:00.000-08:00

I read an interesting article in The New York Times yesterday by Laura M. Holson. All about painted portraits in Hollywood-land and the movie stars that don't like to admit they have them. The timing of this article is a bit ironic since the group just hit 2,000 members willing (some clammering, some along for the ride) to have their portrait painted!
Matt was talking to someone in the MSM yesterday about the project asking why he chooses certain pictures over others to paint and then asked if Angelina Jolie joined the group, would he paint her? He promptly replied, "NO!" (at least not for free, and not for part of this project). If you read the statement about the project, the point of it is, in part, to erase the idea that a classic style of portraiture be made available only to the social elite - those who can afford to spend thousands of dollars on a painting.
Holson says that the artists she spoke to say "even in this economic downturn...people's interest in having their portraits painted has not waned." Should this surprise us? "Yet like many things in Hollywood, the choice of painter is often dictated by social connections." Hmmm, social connections? Facebook? Nah, probably not! It happens in social elite circles, highly unlikely to occur online. However, it's occurred to me as I was reading, that this project mirrors that same process - only in cyberspace.
The big difference is, I totally disagree that having a self-portrait done, whether paid for or not, is a sign of ones' self-importance. I don't think a little vanity is a bad thing. We take pictures constantly of our kids, ourselves, our family, our friends as a way to capture memories, to reflect on times past. If there is some time in your life that is so special, so important, so fun, why not capture it on canvas and hang it in your living room? Why not have an artist render his own interpretation of the "who" of you? Why not love that?
In this modern age, we are constantly barraged with visions of what women and men should look like, that we spend less and less time appreciating what we do look like. I think practicing a little more vanity would be good for all of us!

Observations

2009-02-13T17:52:00.000-08:00

Just less than three months ago, my wife and I were going through profile pictures of our friends asking them if they would let me paint certain photos. My wife had the idea of putting up the facebook group so our friends could join, and then hopefully to expand the group via friends of friends, a larger base of images to paint. I never thought it would catch on in such a way, and for this project to have received the attention it has, is a dream come true.
What's been really interesting is watching, with each new piece of press, the different kinds of people join in. Hipsters, socialite's, arty-types, moms, artists, techy's, etc. It's certainly fun to go through the profiles and experience a bit of each of their lives to a certain extent. It's been nice chatting with those that are brave enough to start up a chat with me, and while I can't spend to much with them, I certainly appreciate the kind words.

Q & A - PLEASE READ

2009-02-11T06:09:00.000-08:00

1) How do you choose which picture to paint as a portrait?
This is a very good question, but certainly not the easiest or most straight forward one to answer. Please take a look at the gallery and you will get a general idea of what I look for. As a rule, though, no cats, no dogs, no kids. Just the individual and maybe a prop - like a banana, or hat, or cigarette. Also, as this group grows larger and larger, I will probably only be going in depth to those profile pictures currently up that catch my eye and make me want to take a closer look.

2) Are these paintings for sale?
Of course! Baby needs diapers and we all need to eat, right? If you are seriously interested, contact me via email at mattheldstudios@gmail.com and we can discuss details. I would just ask that you be open to loaning the piece for exhibition when the time comes.

3) If you paint my painting, can I use the image for the back of my self-published book?

This is the general Copyright disclaimer for all the pieces of the collection:
Copyright 2009 Matt Held and Held Studios. All rights reserved. Image recipients have been granted a non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the copyrighted image for personal use only. Any other use of the image or derivations thereof, including any commercial use, without explicit written consent from the copyright owner is strictly prohibited.

Can you use it as your profile image for facebook, twitter, tumblr, flickr, myspace? Absolutely! If you want to use if for something else, we can talk, thanks!

4) I just joined your group, when will my portrait be done?
I can't make any guarantees as to when/if I will get your painting done. At this point, we have an intern to help with admin stuff. And, if I get to the point where I can hire an assistant, it will go faster. The more time I can spend in the studio, the better chances of me getting to yours. We’ve yet to make any money on the portraits and the only income coming in to this house is enough to pay the rent and put food in the cupboards for a family of four. That said, if you are just dying to have a family photo painted, I am happy to talk with you about arranging a commission outside the scope of this project.

5) You haven't added me as a friend yet. Why not?
My wife and I usually try to spend about an hour or so in the evening, getting caught up on admin stuff that I haven't been able to get to during the day, so my apologies if I haven't added you. She works full-time and I also have two kids to chase after when I am not in the studio. If I haven't gotten to you yet, please save me the time and add me after you join the group. That way I can just confirm you and that part is taken care of.

You can read about project announcements, thoughts, and general direction of the project on this blog.

Approval Matrix

2009-02-09T18:17:00.001-08:00

I did a happy dance today...maybe a more nervous dance and then shit myself backwards after seeing "Angie" on New York Magazine's Approval Matrix February 16, 2009 edition.
And thanks to Caroline for this on the Daily Marauder.
Now for my next act...

Good Press

2009-02-04T06:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was a really great day for this project! Sharon Butler had posted a nice piece on Two Coats of Paint about a week ago and yesterday, Tyler Green gave it first mention on his blog, Modern Art Notes, and New Curator (Mr/Mrs? anonymous) plugged the project in a post on New Curator! We saw a huge bump in member numbers and then Paddy Johnson did a nice little feature on Art Fag City this morning with Shawn Zieger's painting front and center. I couldn't be more pleased with the attention this project is getting and as such have another announcement:
I'll be speaking at the Brooklyn Art Museum on Saturday, March 7th, as part of 1stFans. It's a fun new membership program, check it out and join. $20 a year for a membership that gives exclusive artist content to it's members via twitter, Target 1st Saturdays, facebook and Flickr is a screaming deal I think. I am just a huge fan of supporting the arts in any way possible.
The group is nearing 500 members and I think I need an intern. Any takers?

Snow fall

2009-01-28T09:39:00.000-08:00

I love waking up to snow. It, I don't know, makes me feel nostalgic for my childhood and certainly brings a huge smile to my face when I see my kids enjoying it. Too bad the rain came and I am back inside, cleaning the house, trying to take a bit of a break from studio time to focus on the business end of this project.
I have reached a point where I would like to start connecting with people who would be interested in helping get this project into an exhibition space. It feels a bit foreign for me to talk about figurative painting in the conceptual sense; however, this is a conceptual project and talk about it I must.
Over the past few months, I feel a bit transformed as an artist/painter. Whereas in the past I felt each painting in a series should follow a cohesive theme, now, I feel being that kind of figurative painter can almost be a hindrance in today's art market (is there a market right now?). The world we live in is faced with a throng of activity - social, economical, cultural, technological, industrial, environmental. Throughout history, artists have always, consciously or unconsciously, made statements that are representative of their time. And so, to incorporate my artistic medium into this idea of an easily accessible community of people is quite a turn. For me, I think the most important thing is this concept of accessibility. The Internet and technology in general have made so many more things accessible to the general public that used to be limited to people who existed in higher economic classes. Considering I bend towards socialism, this project allows me to embrace the idea that everyone should be painted and memorialized. I can't necessarily paint everyone, but in the end, as a whole the collection will be more than the sum of its parts.
I will be uploading a few new paintings this weekend and working hard on getting them out of the studio and into the public space. I certainly hope that will be soon!

Thoughts

2009-01-19T05:20:00.000-08:00

Last week was a bit challenging. I was able to finish two paintings but found myself a bit limited in being able to get into the studio. As a full-time artist and full-time dad, sometimes I have to be a bit flexible on either end. There just aren't enough hours in the day to do both with 110% gusto. When I am not in the studio or playing with a rattle, I am going through member profiles to see if anything new jumps out at me.
The group is now nearing 300 members, which is awesome! Having such a wealth of source material, for any artist, I think is more than what you could ask for. And the fact that the source - the internet - is constantly changing creates an interesting "living" aspect to it.
Someone asked me the other day why I would choose one person over another, given that I don't know most of these people, and I had to stop and think about. I guess, simply put, there are aspects of these people that I may or may not connect with. It would be difficult for me to paint someone - knowing just a few things about them from their info page and other things I can glean from their profile - who is completely opposite of me, voluntarily.

Good Things to Come

2009-01-12T18:04:00.000-08:00

For those of you local to Brooklyn - stay tuned. I'll be doing a speaking engagement in early March. I'll release the details in early February, but I plan to bring a few paintings with me. It'll be pretty informal, and my first speaking engagement to date. Hopefully I don't throw up on anyone!
Also, I'll be posting two new pieces tomorrow if the clouds cooperate.
Hope the New Year is treating all of you well!

What do Morse Code and Twitter have in common?

2009-01-08T17:46:00.000-08:00

Artist An Xiao gave Matt and this project a shot out on her blog the other day http://thatwaszen.blogspot.com/, and I just wanted to reciprocate. Check out her blog and recent project involving morse code, twitter, and the Brooklyn Art Museum when you get a chance.

Holy Moses!

2009-01-06T17:18:00.000-08:00

I must say - the group hit 165 members today - I am stunned, and maybe a bit stressed. If I do my math right - I'll be busy into 2010. Amazing! I haven't set a goal for how many paintings I can/will actually complete. Is 100 a good number? 200?
I sat down last night and picked out the next 20 paintings. I could tell you each one of them, but it wouldn't make for much suspense and I gather from a few of you that you are watching closely. You'll just have to wait!

New Portraits

2009-01-05T15:49:00.001-08:00

I was able to shoot two portraits today and post them up. What's interesting to me is - here I am painting people, some of whom I've never met before and painting them directly from a photograph that has popped out at me as being "the one" I want to paint. However, I tend to go through the individuals other posted photographs to get an idea of their true skin tone and other details that this particular photograph may miss, color of their eyes, hair color, etc. It becomes especially difficult if the photograph is low resolution or if it's from a camera phone (which typically distorts most colors). The challenge is fun to work through and while I may not get it right, there is a reason why I am drawn to the quirkiness of the pose or the inanimate prop or the washed out skin tone or the expression of the person at that moment in time. The finished portrait is part mirror image, part interpretation and judgment and I wonder, right or not, will they like it.

Space

2009-01-04T14:21:00.000-08:00

I am almost finished with three new portraits. I am hoping to get a greyish day so that I can shoot them and post to the group and my website. Joelle is looking around for artists grants and work space grants that I could possibly qualify for - my little 10' X 6' studio is slowly becoming smaller and smaller. I might have to start giving away some of my old paintings...

If any of you have any ideas, please let me know!

In the qeue

2009-01-03T06:07:00.000-08:00

In less than a week, over 100 members have joined the Facebook group "I'll have my Facebook portrait painted by Matt Held". I have been going through each member's profile shots to see what may work for the project. I've also had some questions as to what I look for and while it's hard to formulate specific details as to why one gets chosen over another, you can look through the finished ones to get an idea of what I like. Essentially, clarity and quality of the photo are the most important, but on the basic content level, it is just the individual (no dogs, no kids). I have quite a few in qeue right now and will post the finished ones as they are completed.

10,000 hours

2009-01-03T05:17:00.000-08:00

I started this project Thanksgiving weekend of 2008. I have painted the figure for years using old family photos or taking my own photos for source material. My wife had been playing around with our computer and took a picture of herself in iPhoto - her interpretation of what she looked like when she was angry - and posted it to her Facebook page. I loved the shot, decided to paint it and it hit me - what a wealth of source material Facebook could be.
Going through the profile shots of some of my friends I started thinking about what the posters' intent is with some of their photos. Choosing a certain photo to post is a form of control and self-preservation. However, whether it's a conscious or subconscious choice to choose a photo as a representation of your "self" is not something I intend to answer with this project. I do hope, though, that an examination of the subjects' character and moral quality will be part of the dialogue.
There is another piece to this project - the origin of how these people come into connection with me, the artist. Conceptually, the collection as a whole becomes a community of individual's that have opted to be memorialized, much in the same way the original commissioners of portrait painting - the rich and powerful - chose to. The why here is maybe a bit more obvious. As one new member put it so eloquently - "we are all just a little bit vain."

Most of the posts from here out will be posted by my wife - Joelle. Now that the group has hit over 100 members, and I have just finished the 14th portrait, I will be focusing solely on building the collection. Plus, she's better at formulating my thoughts than I am!