Jay Giliberty
(Portland, OR)
Artist Website
Sam 2014, Oil on Canvas, 20" X 16"
The body. It is who we are, or at least who we seem to be, to others. A vessel in which we carry ourselves; an exquisite mechanism that is ours alone to maintain, abuse, repair, mutilate and celebrate. A simple nude by itself could make for countless interesting studies of rolling flesh and folds, but the fact that it contains the lifeforce that drives our social interactions, civilization and, for better or worse, our planet's fate, makes it all the more intriguing. The dialogue between the body and mind, day in and day out, year after year, produces an endless variety of versions of humanity.
I am grateful to have the opportunity, in each painting, to endeavor to capture a given moment in that process. And with so much change and upheaval in our modern world, I appreciate my participation in a community and craft that has existed, essentially unchanged, for centuries.