The Portraitists Nick Guacheta'

A conversation with Debora Koo, a Korean-American figurative painter currently practicing in Charlotte, North Carolina. Koo received her B.A at Smith College in Massachusetts, and her M.F.A. from Ewha University in Seoul, Korea. Koo’s work explores themes of otherism, romantic despair, and nostalgia. Koo’s iconic cake paintings offer a sense of indulgence and familiarity that pull the viewer into a sensatory memory like a kept polaroid. Koo's work has been exhibited in Ulsan, Korean, London, New York City, and Charlotte.

@deb_koo

A conversation with Cory Swenson-Scott, an American figurative painter practicing in California and abroad. Swenson-Scott received his Master of Fine Art from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, and has collected an expansive series of accolades in the California area, including a repeat annual showcase at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento. Swenson-Scott has been awarded various residencies which allow him to practice in destinations such as Sweden, Mexico, and Japan. Both at home, and abroad, Swenson-Scott’s practice involves the identification and representation of those who are not typically portrayed in fine art - which is particularly elevated through the artist's traditional style and application. This includes those of uncommon fashion, social outcasts, and persons who would otherwise not have the opportunity - as is the case in Swenson-Scott’s series of rural Japanese folk. 

A conversation with Stelios Pupet, a Greek figurative artist that practices in Athens, Greece. Pupet developed his artistic practice as a young graffiti artist running from the authorities in the Athenian Metro. Pupet retained these foundations as he evolved into his fine art practice. Pupet depicts the human form, often female, often obscured or masked, or tranquil in an urban/suburban gardenscape. Pupet’s recent signature is his style of rendering in bold rigid shapes, capturing a moment as it freezes into 8-bit. 

A conversation with Steve Cannon, an Irish figurative artist practicing in Galway, Ireland. Cannon’s work remained steadily focused on human portraiture. Cannon captures his subjects with prying attention - resulting in hyper honest and vulnerable product - described as beginning “[torn apart]”. Cannon’s work has been frequently platformed by the Royal Hibernian Academy and the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. 

@stevecannonartist

A conversation with Zboik Czajkowski, a Polish figurative artist that practices between the cities of Berlin, Germany and Warsaw, Poland. Czajkowski is a prominent figure in the street art and graffiti scene - his career taking him from London to Tokyo. Czajkowski’s current practice is balanced between large-scale mural commissions, which he executes with a small team, and that he pursues as an opportunity for travel and social engagement - and his studio practice, where he digests his emotions through the warped portraiture he renders in a signature visual language he’s developed since his youth. 

@zboik 

A conversation with Wylee Risso, a figurative painter currently practicing in Portland, OR. Risso’s body of work spans an eclectic assortment of subjects - images untethered by audience-focused theming, but instead images that strike the artist - the refracted lightshow of a dishpit, or a single frame of a cult-classic. Risso translates these images into a signature style characterized by a frenzy of lines that search for supernatural geometry - resulting in a sharp, flat, Euclidean fantasyscape.

@wyleerisso