Painting “Contagion”

“Subway Brain” is the first of four paintings in a series called “Contagion” I exhibited at the Major Works Show from March 26th to April 1st at Artscape Youngplace. Each artist in the show worked for months with a specifc and personal concept that directed their paintings; my theme was sickness.  

Originally, I was focused on the intimate and cruel way that sickness touches my life through the bodies of my loved ones, but as time went on, my considerations expanded. I began thinking about the pandemic – more specifically, the covid-conspiracy papers I’d see on a weekly basis littering the public trains I use to get to class. I’ve been collecting papers, posters, and other propaganda materials I find in public spaces for several years, not limited to covid-specific materials, but I used “Contagion” to speak directly on the infection of paranoid misinformation. 

The first step in my process was then to organize the papers I had found and to begin to cut out interesting phrases and paragraphs to later collage into my work. .

The process of reading, slicing, and stitching these conspiracies back together in new forms became my conceptual process and provided the meaning and direction necessary for deciding the compositions for my paintings. Naturally enough, “Subway Brain” takes place in the subway, namely, St. Patrick station. The next step is to gather reference photos. 

Which means getting the side-eye from the tired commuters standing next to me. 

With both reference photos and a clear idea in mind of what I want my painting to communicate and how, I do a few composition sketches before I start painting. 

I wash my canvas in phthalo green so I have a vivid and cold underpainting, which contributes an alien atmosphere to the painting. Ontop of the underpainting, I re-sketch my composition, this time using a dark tone paint. 

Bit by bit I block in colours to create the basic structure of the subway, making sure my palette stays familiar to my underpainting. This is because I want the brain to be the source of colour contrast in my painting, complimenting the sickly subway green with irritated pinks and infected looking reds. 

After I have rendered all of my painted elements, I introduce the literal conspiracy materials into the piece by collaging clips and paragraphs with chalk lines so that the collage resembles a medical diagram.