Brian Calvin

Since the 1990s, Brian Calvin has developed a body of highly stylized flattened paintings, rendering his figures in light-soaked portraits that retain a lifelike quality. His work’s defining characteristic is the figures’ temporal pauses; each one seems to be suspended in action. Calvin’s recent work has moved away from revealing his subjects’ whole faces and instead highlights individual features, in some cases the eyes, which seem to suggest an interior world beyond the space of the canvas. “The very act of painting combined with the act of looking creates a portal through which a lot can transpire,” Calvin has said. “So I paint each day, trying to remain open enough to let that connection happen.”