HAPPY PORTRAIT MONDAY
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| Jamie Armstrong Teddyboy IX, 2011 polymer plate on newsprint |
Local emerging artist Jamie Armstrong works with a variety of media to address issues of memory, family, brotherhood, camaraderie, and male culture and sexuality. The Teddyboy series in particular characterizes the friendship of two men during some happier wartime-era moments, the joy, warmth, and absurdity of which Armstrong highlights at times with glitter, rosy cheeks, and bright painted shapes. Teddyboy IX is somewhat subtler in its treatment. The female figure, who happens to be a Parisian escort, is ghosted out in a decisive painterly action that illuminates the bond of friendship that links these two individuals' lives and, in contrast, their fleeting interaction with this stranger. The result is a sweet but eerie print that brings to mind the process of remembering and forgetting the thousands of interactions that are contained within a single life.
Full editorial disclosure: Jamie and I have collaborated on a body of work that is being exhibited at Black & Yellow Gallery at the Waldorf Hotel until the end of this month! Please drop by if you're in the area, we would love to meet you.
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