Oprah Magazine – Reading Room – Those Who Knew, by Idra Novey 2018

This is an illustration by Owen Gent for Idra Novey's book, Those Who Knew, probably made digitally. The color palette feels warm and earthy, with that deep red backdrop creating this intense, intimate space. Check out how Gent uses texture. It's not super smooth, right? It's got this kind of grainy quality, especially in the figures. It gives the piece this sense of depth, like layers of paint. The way the hands reach out, almost like they're grasping or pleading, it gets you right in the gut. It puts me in mind of Francis Bacon, you know? That same way of capturing raw emotion through the distortion of the human form, and with a similar use of dramatic lighting. Art's like a conversation, isn't it? Always echoing and building on what came before. And I think that's really beautiful.