Climbers Gallery
Emily-The Quickdraw
22x28, oil on canvas
2017
Liz-The Shoe
22x28, oil on canvas
2016
Wyatt-The Rope
22x28, oil on canvas
2016
Prune-The Harness
22x28, oil on canvas
2021
Marcelle-The Chalk
22x28, oil on canvas
2018
2018 Ohio State Fair
Ohio Arts Council Award
Ben-The Rock
22x28, oil on canvas
2022
This gallery is a set of ten portraits of real people living in Columbus, OH. Its purpose is to elevate climbing to an art form by exalting both the person dedicated to it and one of the key item used by climbers in their performance. To create such a sense and give climbing the dignity of an art, these ten portraits reconnect with conventional paintings as they were in the 17th and 18th centuries. At that time, only a few subjects were allowed: portraits of sovereigns, or historical, religious, and mythological scenes. Each portrait is a tribute to one famous topic while distorting its codes to add a sense of modernity.
Thus, Emily is a modern allegory of justice, Liz a new Diana, surprised after her bath, Wyatt a christ bearing another cross, Prune a self-contradictory Phryné, Ben a sturdy Hamlet, and Marcelle stands for all absent people "of color" throughout history of art.