Salute 2017

Mary Jane Ansell's figurative painting 'Salute' is a masterclass in contemporary realism. It looks like it was made with oil paint, and the way she's built up the layers of color, especially in the subject's face and hands, gives the painting a luminous, almost photographic quality. I wonder about the many hours Ansell must have spent to achieve this level of detail. It makes me think of how Chuck Close used grids as scaffolding, breaking down the image into manageable bits, but here the effect is seamless. See how the model’s hand barely touches the brim of her hat? Ansell balances the entire composition on that single point of contact. Ansell's work reminds me of classic portraiture, but she's also part of a very contemporary conversation about identity, representation, and the enduring power of paint to capture a human presence.